Rise of a Warrior v2 Alternite Universe
by gundamcars00
Summary: Our story will take place in the Rise of a Warrior story, I have contacted SSJ Masta and have the writers blessing and permission to write this adaptation. With the Rift Ripper activated and damaged, its power created a split universe at that point in time. Now the universe is faced with a threat even greater than Unicron. Much will change in this universe, cant wait to find out.
1. Understanding Your Place

**Our story will take place in the Rise of a Warrior story originally pioneered by SSJ Masta, Version 2. chapter 13 (Double Take). To adequately inform all readers, I have been in contact with SSJ Masta and I have been the writers blessing and approval to write this story adaptation.**

**As for the story itself. Given profound circumstances revolving around the Rift Ripper and being damaged then activated the device created a split universe where our story will take place. It is a nearly identical universe that was accidentally created by the devices power. But will evolve differently based on Occam's Razor Universe theory. It will follow some of TFP but will have more extreme battle scenarios as well as deep character relationships. If you haven't read Rise of the Warrior V2 already please up to chapter 13, or you will be really confused, after that you can follow this story AFTER YOU READ CHAPTER 13 OF RISE OF A WARRIOR V2. **

**Thanks **

**With Respect**

**R Vega**

There was still much tension and skepticism in the air, both Jack and Optimus were still not fully willing to accept the circumstances that led to their two new acquaintances: Soundwave, Megatron's most loyal soldier and information officer, and Slipstream, a Con that Optimus personally terminated himself. Both of them now seemingly allies, it was a lot to take in, in such a short amount of time. This situation also brought Jack's/Blurr's rather unpleasant memory of when Soundwave attacked Raf, Miko and himself with an ax. Definitely not his most fond memory of his seemingly newly acquainted ally; as for Slipstream, Jack knew nothing of this Con in particular. However he quickly assumed that if it took Optimus to take her out then she must have been a Con, at least in his reality, of considerable skill and lethality.

"Soundwave, Slipstream, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, however I will be watching you both very closely for the time being to ensure that what you say is true," Optimus said with a hint of skepticism as he looked a Blurr for a sign of understanding and approval.

"Optimus, I'm sure you know more about both of these Cons, ehh sorry I mean umm. Well I'm not sure what to call them at this point." Jack said looking at both of them towering over him scrutinizing everything he said.

"Blurr, I know this situation is rather unusual in the least, however both of them came to our aid with no prompting of any sort," Optimus said bending on one knee to meet Jack at his level. "That does not mean that we will welcome them with open arms however," looking at both Soundwave and Slipstream to make it a point that they also understand this necessary fact as well. "We will all need to treat this situation with the utmost care and consideration for both parties." Optimus said returning to his feet, while looking off in the distance.

"Excuse me Sir, I know that this is a lot to process in such a short amount of time but if the versions of us in your reality are Cons, which it seems they are, can we assume they are?" Slipstream said in a rather cold and emotionless tone that reminded Jack of Arachnid. "Then we can assume they lack our insignias and our obvious Autobot markings." Referring to the blue optics that both of them seemed to possess except for Soundwave who lacked any visible optics given his visor, but he did not possess the rather ominous purple glow that their Soundwave most certainly did.

Both Jack and Optimus seemed to notice this as Jack's HUD in his helmet picked out their Autobot insignia, optics color, as well as the friendlier aura that they both seemed to have over the usual Decepticon. Along with the fact that his armor hadn't registered either of them as a hostile automatically like it did for any other Con seemed to make their case all the more believable. Jack still held some skepticism in the back of his mind given the circumstances.

"You would be correct on that statement Slipstream, you both seem to have the genuine marking of an Autobot, but as I said moments ago. We will give you the benefit of the doubt for now." Optimus stated calmly.

"Optimus," Jack said with a sudden haste, "I'm going to let you deal with these two of our SO CALLED GUESTS if you don't mind. I need some time to process this."

"I understand Blurr," Optimus said with a sound of approval and understanding in his voice. Noticing that Jack/Blurr wanted to take some time to think about this situation alone rather than hastily say or do things that he might regret later; he wanted to collect his thoughts before coming to a decision. The Prime truly began to see that his young yet capable comrade was maturing and in a way he was proud.

With that said Jack slowly turned away from them, looked towards the sky, activated his vernian thrusters and took off like a human rocket, which for all intents and purposes he was.

As Jack flew away from Optimus and their two new guests, he wondered if he was doing the right thing leaving Optimus alone with them. Concerned that it might have been a clever trap set by the Decepticon's, he decided to do a quick flyby from where he left only to catch the three of them walking through a ground bridge.

"Ratchet, come in." He said as he watched the bridge close.

"Yes Jack, I mean Blurr, what is it." Ratchet said hastily.

"Ratchet is everything alright at base, is Optimus OK?" He said with a hint of concern.

"Yes he's fin… BY THE ALL SPARK, OPTIMUS HAVE YOU GOT A PROCESSOR LOOSE? WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH YOU?"

With that the com line went silent for a few seconds until it finally went dead. Jack attempted to contact the base again but was unable to get a response. Unsure what was happening or what to do he decided to get back to base as soon as possible. But how, he couldn't get a ground bridge sent to him and he was over two thousand miles from base.

Unsure how to get back Jack decided to fly as fast as he could; he had never really needed to find out how fast he could actually fly because there had been no need to find out. Until now, with that he found his barring's and set off. A million thoughts were going through his head; I shouldn't have left him alone with them, what if it was a trap, what if. The thoughts were polluting his mind making him all the more motivation to get back as soon as possible.

Jack was soon moving at what his HUD calculated to be 488 miles per hour and gaining speed, but it wasn't enough, he needed to move faster. He concentrated and thought to himself that he needed to fly faster. With that thought his HUD changed slightly to a power output reading that he had never seen before. It was full of readings and outputs, along with a schematic of his armor that was divided into sections.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Faster, Faster, GOD DAMIT, FASTER!" Suddenly his thruster output wheel glowed, within a split second many things happened. His HUD lit up, his armor schematic turned red in several places in his back and sides. He also felt his armor change its shape and a massive boost of speed.

Jack felt his armor stiffen up as he jumped from around 500 miles per hour to 1,200, 1,400, 1,600, 2,000, and climbing. Jack's armor had revealed several new thrusters that were hiding in his armor. A nearby passerby saw a vapor stream in the sky that seemingly exploded with a thunderous bang, loud enough to break the windows in her nearby cabin. That was followed by an object moving away from the position it had been moments before at seemingly impossible speed.

His speed was rising 2,230, 2,800, 3,440 miles per hour. His speed was incredible and his HUD seemed to indicate that he had plenty of power in reserve. With this observation Jack said, "Screw it, I NEED IT ALL!" What Jack felt next was nearly indescribable; a mountain of blue fire appeared from his suit that was several hundred feet long. His speed instantly jumped again, this time to an astonishing 6,500 miles per hour and still rising which is a calculated Mach 20.

Blurr again attempted to raise someone at the base on the com link. But there was no response; suddenly another thought entered his mind. What if Arcee was at the base and something bad had happened. Jack closed his eyes, swallowed and took a deep breath, praying that the love of his life was alright and safe. The thoughts of what Soundwave could be doing…

"Blurr, come in, do you read?" Ratchet's voice came in over the com link with a hint of static.

"Ratchet is everything alright at base, is Arcee ok? What about Optimus wh," Jack was cut off by Optimus's voice coming in over the com.

"Blurr everything is alright."

Ratchet butted back on the com. "We had a momentary loss of signal after deactivating the ground bridge. But we are all fine. Optimus gave us all a big scare when he arrived with our new guests, and Arcee is still out on her recon mission."

Jack shook his head in relief that everything was ok at base; all of his recent worries were seemingly put to rest.

"Blurr where are you? We are reading a signal, but it can't be yours. According to the signal it's moving at well over 6,500 miles per hour." Ratchet said in a questioning tone, as he didn't fully know what the speed potentials of Blurr were at this point. But he considered it to be possible but incredibly unlikely as he would undoubtedly be the fastest Cybertronian in history.

"Umm yeah that's me Ratchet," Jack said with a hint of excitement and surprise.

"WHAT!" Ratchet's voice blasted over the com like he had been stabbed. "Blurr slow down for Primus's sake, you're going to kill yourself if you crash at that speed!"

With that said Jack decided to back WAY off his speed and slowly decelerated to a manageable 150 miles per hour. Soon he was landing in a snowy mountain pass that looked like a picture he had seen on his mom's refrigerator during Christmas.

"Blurr," Optimus's voice came in over the com. "Shall we send a ground bridge for you?"

"No Optimus, I will be ok. I just need some time to, time to think if you don't mind." Jack said in a quiet voice hoping that his request would be granted.

"Very well Blurr, take your time. When you need a ground bridge signal us and we will send one for you." Optimus said in a very friendly and seemingly understanding tone.

"Thanks," Jack said as he closed the link. Jack began to look around and found a nice place to sit down and think about the day's events. He told Optimus that he needed to think about the whole situation with Soundwave and Slipstream but that was only a small part of what was really eating at him. He retracted his helmet and let the somewhat warm feeling of what he could feel of the sun shine on his face. Taking a deep breath he could feel the cool air fill his lungs that helped him relieve some of his built up anxiety that he had been holding within himself for the last hour following his thrashing given to him by Megatron.

xxxx

Today was the first day he actually saw real live combat, not a simulation that was in the S.A.F.E. where if something went wrong they could shut it down before he got really hurt. But real life or death combat, and as much as he thought he was ready for it, he realized that he might have been prepared for combat physically but not mentally. So many things went through his mind. What if I made a mistake and got hurt or even killed what if I got Optimus hurt, so many things seemed to flood his mind.

He realized that if he was ever to survive and be able to protect Arcee, who was what he fought for now, he would have to get a hold of himself. Jack looked at his armor cladded hands, turning his hands back and forth taking in the scuffs and scratches that he received from the stomping Megatron gave him, it finally hit him how much he had truly changed. Not just physically but emotionally as well. He had been so egger to protect everyone that he never considered the personal cost it would take on him.

Hours passed as Jack sat there watching the sun go down over the horizon. He slowly organized his emotions and thoughts so he could fully understand his situation, his emotions, and his life in general. He thought about the fight Arcee and he had recently when he refused to talk to her. He thought about the wonderful night they spent together and the emotions he felt and could still feel from then. He thought about how much he loved her. He thought about his mom and out living her, Raf, and Miko. It didn't seem fair to them but he remembered that not everything in life was fair. He was pretty sure they didn't mean his situation when they said that.

As it started to get later Jack retracted the armor on his arm to check his watch; 8:30. Which meant he had been there thinking for nearly 4 hours. Quite a feat for himself he thought.

As he looked over the vast mountain region, he saw the low clouds glow a brilliant orange and he continued to take in how peaceful and beautiful the sight was. "Prima, Primus if you're out there somewhere I hope you made the right choice choosing me."

"I can't think of a single soul more worthy to have received the gift you did Jack." A familiar and loving voice came from behind Jack that he knew instantly. Jack lifted his head looked behind him to see Arcee standing behind him with her hands on her hips looking right at him.

"Hey," Jack said in a low and voice.

"Hey to you too, Optimus said you were out and needed time to think. After a few hours I got worried and decided to come find you instead." Arcee said looking away trying to show that she thought it was no big deal, but to her it was and he fully knew it.

"It's ok love." Jack said and Arcee felt her spark warm her from the inside. It felt so good to hear him say that even though she didn't fully understand all that it meant. It didn't matter.

Arcee generated a subtle smile that Jack saw as she strutted toward him and sat down next to him on the rock he had been pondering the universe on.

"So how was the recon mission you went on earlier?" Jack asked with a hint of curiosity.

"As routine as could have been hoped for, we didn't encounter too much trouble." Arcee said hoping he would somehow miss the last part she said.

"What do you mean not too much trouble?" Jack asked inquisitively.

"When we arrived, we found a small contingent of seekers who were collecting energon. After they were dealt with we collected what energon remained and brought it back to base." Arcee said acting as if nothing even happened on her recon mission, hoping to make her day seem short so she could hear more about his day. She assumed there was something troubling him since he was on a seemingly abandoned mountain in the middle of nowhere, alone.

Jack sat quietly next to her listening to her speak. He could tell she wanted to hear what was bothering him, but he was going to play hard to get and make her ask. A few moments passed until Arcee couldn't stand it anymore and asked.

"Jack what is it, I can tell something is clearly bothering you. Tell me what is it, did something happen today other than the fact that there are apparently a friendly version of Soundwave and Slipstream now at our base." As Arcee said their names Jack looked up as if he had completely forgotten about them already.

"Yeah wasn't that a bit of a scare and a shock," Jack said jokingly to Arcee knowing that she more than likely probably attacked one of them when she got back to base.

"Yes it was, but we can talk about that later. Right now I want to know what is bothering you since you have been sitting here alone for hours." She said in an almost pleading voice hoping that he would open up to her.

He looked up at his femme companion and gazed deep into her optics that he knew all too well. Then shifted his gaze to the armor on the outside of his right hand that had been scratched up from his encounter with the Decepticon leader only hours earlier; just the thought of his foot coming down on him sent shivers through his spine. Arcee looked at his hand and zoomed her optics in to see in detail the light damage his hand and as a matter of fact the rest of him had.

"Wha, What, What happened? Who did this to you?" Arcee said in an almost frightful tone taking Jack's hand in her fingers and nearly pulling him off the rock he was sitting on to observe his armor and its damage.

"It's nothing serious Arcee, I just got a tossed around um, a little," Jack said as Arcee transformed into her smaller human sized version but kept all her armor on so she wouldn't freeze. Arcee then began to meticulously inspect Jack for all of his battle scars and became angrier with each small dent and scratch she found on his armor.

She took hold of Jack putting her hand on either side of his face asking him. "Who did this to you?"

"Well, um, if I tell you have to promise me you won't geek out," Jack said as she listened to every word he said.

"No promises!" Arcee said in a strong and firm voice.

"Well then I'm not going to tell you, and don't think Optimus is going to tell you either, because I will ask him not to if you're going to freak out each time I show up with a few new scratches." Jack said as he knew Arcee would have little choice but to agree and try to keep her cool.

"Fine," Arcee said as she sighed and looked away knowing that she had just conceded to his demands, which made her unhappy.

XXXX

They sat there on Jack's thinking rock together, Arcee holding Jack's hands in hers and listening to every word he said as the sun finally went down.

Jack started off telling her what had happened from the beginning; telling her about the Con's excavating the site where the beacon was buried. Describing how there were plenty of vehicons there but nothing too worrying. That was until Megatron showed up. Arcee suddenly gave a firm squeeze to Jack's hand knowing that something bad was coming. He could tell she knew since she was literally crushing his hand in her very strong and somewhat larger hands. Jack explained how Optimus and he decided to go for the Rift Ripper when they realized what it was and the stakes that were present.

Jack was getting more excited when he told Arcee how he made a mess of Megatron's hand and was able to hold his own against him. That was until Megatron got his hands on him then things went downhill from there. Arcee practically knew what had happened but she needed to hear it from him.

"That's when Megatron threw me to the ground and smashed me with his colossal foot. I won't say it didn't hurt, but it wasn't that bad to be honest." Jack said trying to play down the whole situation not seeing the look on Arcee's face that was in an absolute state of shock and fear.

"It's funny to think that if I hadn't gotten, well I guess upgraded, there was no way I could have survived the whole ordeal." Jack said turning his head from looking at the ground to looking at Arcee's face.

But when Jack finally looked up at the femme to help make his case, he saw her face. He saw she was actually crying, what she was crying he wasn't sure but she was definitely crying. That's when he stopped; he knew she was hurt and scared for him more than anything else. Arcee put both her hands around him and pulled him in for a hug and a kiss on his head. She was so emotional; he had no idea what to think of it. He had never seen this side of her before but he definitely would like to see more of it. Jack returned the hug that was practically crushing his spine at this point, but he didn't care. He just wanted to make her feel better. Jack felt awful having caused her to cry because of his actions.

"Arcee, thank you, thank you for caring." Jack said in a low but warm voice as he looked up into her beautiful blue optics.

"Jack, why wouldn't I care? I care about you more than anything; I don't want to lose you." Arcee said as her newly found waterworks kicked into overtime and started dropping tears onto the back of Jack's neck. She released him from the bone-crushing hug and move down to kiss him on the lip; he was sure to take a deep breath this time to make it last. As their lips met, there was tingling electricity between them that neither of them could seem to get enough of. They both sat there for some time holding each other and talking about why Jack was on a mountain thinking.

"So that's really why you're all the way out here, because of what happened today with Megatron?" Arcee asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, after the fight, our new arrivals, and the adrenalin had left my system I realized how unprepared I was for that encounter. I know that I was physically ready but," Jack is cut off by Arcee.

"But you weren't ready for the mental side of it, the realization that it isn't a simulation and you can very well die. That's what's got you up here isn't it?"

Jack paused for a moment before answering the patient femme. "Yeah that's pretty much why I'm up here you could say. Also the fact that Soundwave and Slipstream are now apparently allies, that's going to take time to get used to." Jack said as he finished up the conversation.

"It's not something that can be taught but something you are going to have to learn for yourself, Jack. Combat is both physically and mentally demanding; it takes time to get used to both and if you aren't ready for one of them, it can be a painful surprise." Arcee said in an encouraging voice.

"Yeah I'm realizing that now, if I had trained to be this strong, I would probably not have ended up here in this situation. But there's nothing I can do about it now, but be a man and overcome it." Jack said as he stood up on his own two feet and looked into Arcee's glowing blue optics. "I'm going to train harder and temper my mind so this doesn't happen again." As Jack said this, a blue hue of light started to emit from the gaps in his armor.

"And I will be here helping you every step of the way, Jack," Arcee said with a smile.

"Well, it's getting late and you've been gone a while, actually we both have. Primus knows Miko is going to give both of us scrap about being gone together for so long." Arcee said with a grumble.

"You let me deal with Miko; if she gets out of line I will fly her to the top of the base and leave her there." Jack said with a smirk.

"No you won't, I'm not letting my Jack fly anyone around unless it's me." Arcee said in a possessive tone with her arms crossed and looking straight at Jack.

"Well in that case, we are about an hour's flight from base, and I feel like stretching my legs a little. Since I'm not allowed to fly anyone around except you; how about it love, you up for a moonlight flight?" Jack said inquisitively looking at the sky then his femme companion.

"Absolutely, but don't overdo it, Jack; you got thrown around pretty good today don't forget." Arcee said with a hint of concern.

"I feel fine and besides I've got a few new tricks to show you on our ride back." Jack said encouragingly.

With that he delicately scooped Arcee up in his arms and slowly lifted off; Jack got about 1000 feet off the ground with Arcee tightly in his arms before he said: "I would hold in tight if I were you!"

With that Jack's HUD lit up and his newly found thrusters appeared from his back and the new couple took off like a missile at incredible speed. Streaking across the dark night sky with a thunderous bang as Jack broke the sound barrier and carried his lovely Arcee back to base in his arms.


	2. Wait, Your Who, From Where?

Rise of a Warrior v2 Chapter 14 part B

The Autobot base was all a buzz with the recent turn of events that had taken place in the past few days. Miko was utterly freaked with the appearance of the new Soundwave as was Raf given their past encounter. As for Slipstream, however, Miko seemed to take a liking to her with her more abrasive and tough girl attitude. But that was the end of the overall pleasantries revolving around this situation. The rest of team Prime was in an utter uproar over the situation, Bulkhead particularly.

"Ya know, I don't know why Optimus is taking this so lightly with them being here and all. I mean I'm not saying that their story isn't true, but still it's pretty far-fetched." Bulkhead said scratching his head and talking to Bumblebee.

Bee chirped and beeped, ("I know but given the situation revolving around their coming to be here, we might want to consider the fact they might be genuine allies.") As he looked at Soundwave looking off into the ground bridge tunnel.

Optimus was with Ratchet who was checking over Slipstream on the medical berth, giving her system a proper examination given the amount of time they spent in the Rift Ripper's void.

"Everything seems to check out ok. Her systems are designed virtually identical from the original Slipstream we knew and I would be willing to bet the same goes for Soundwave." Ratchet said as he looked at his scanner and fiddled with the reading from his patient.

"Ratchet, I would like you to do a thorough scan of Soundwave as well," Optimus said before he was cut off by Ratchet.

"Optimus, I already tried but he refused to let me even scan his systems. It seems this Soundwave is just as, well, I guess I should call it antisocial. Which, if on any account, would be a benefit for us to scan him if he would let us." Ratchet said staring into his computer's screens looking over data.

Miko suddenly decided to butt into the conversation the bots were having.

"If you scan him, could you possibly find an advantage over our Soundwave?" Miko asked questioningly.

Optimus looked stunned for a moment and looked off into the distance, Soundwave turned to look at Mike given her comment, and Ratchet was utterly speechless. They all then looked at her with a look of shock and surprise.

Ratchet, in particular, looked at Miko, whose face looked as if she had done something wrong.

"Miko, THAT'S BRILLIANT, if we could get a detailed scan of Soundwave it might give us a way of increasing our odds against him." Ratchet said with great surprise in his voice. He didn't expect to hear that idea especially from Miko of all people. She usually just caused a ruckus and wore on everyone's nerves. But for once she actually had an intelligent idea. No a brilliant idea.

Miko added, "I just want you guys to find a way to rip the scrap out of that faceless con, since he tried to cut mine off with an ax last time." Miko looked away as to not show her frustration. "This time it's personal."

Raf decided to make an intelligent comment as he usually always did. "If our Soundwave has any kind of weakness we should totally use it; I'm not saying that I agree with Miko, but I also want to see his con butt taken out of commission."

XXXX

Jack was walking into the base with Arcee, whose face was still dumbfounded from the rather exciting flight they had back to base, overheard the conversation.

"I agree with Raf, Soundwave is just as dangerous as Megatron in my opinion and we need every strategic advantage we can get," Jack said, the new Soundwave now looking directly at him and his femme companion walking with him, entering the main chamber of the base. "OH! Sorry um, Soundwave, I didn't mean you, but our version of you tried to cut me into little pieces last time I saw him."

Soundwave looked at Jack showing no sign of emotion, just gazed silently. Arcee quickly noticed this and moved to step in front of Jack, firmly placing her foot on the floor and told Soundwave: "You listen to me! You might be some kind of nice version of the scrap head con, but you STAY AWAY FROM MY JACK, YOU HEAR ME!" Arcee shouted as she quickly closed the distance between Soundwave and herself, showing that she wasn't scared of him. "YOU HEAR ME?" Arcee shouted at Soundwave again attempting to get some sort of response.

Soundwave did nothing to respond; instead he simply turned and walked away from Arcee and the rest of group.

"Arcee, it's ok; let him go. If I can hold my own against Megatron then I'm pretty sure I can hold my own against Soundwave, regardless if he is friendly or not." Jack said trying to calm his partner.

"Jack, you haven't known the Soundwave I have, he is more dangerous and deceptive then you can possibly imagine. He might play the silent type, but he is even more dangerous because of it. And he tried to kill you, believe me I will personally crush his spark with my own hands for that." Arcee said clinching her fist at the thought of Soundwave hurting her Jack.

"Hey, I want our con version of Soundwave scrapped as much as the rest of us, but I think this Soundwave is the genuine article. He hasn't threatened us in any way and all we have done is scrutinize him because of what our con version of him had done. That doesn't seem fair if you ask me." Jack said with conviction trying to make his point firm.

Optimus overheard the conversation and walked over to the disputing group. "I agree with Blurr, this Soundwave does seem to be a genuine Autobot, and if that is so, then he is our ally. We should not be so quick to judge him because of our version that had done so much harm. We will monitor him for the time being, but I believe that both he and Slipstream are our allies. And with that we should treat them as such."

Arcee, frustrated with Optimus, slammed her fist on a nearby stack of crates crushing some delicate electronics in the process.

"ARCEE, I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet cried out from across the room.

"AHH scrap this." With that said Arcee stomped out telling Jack before she left the room, "I will be in my, or should I say, our quarters." The blue femme said to her partner before walking off down the corridor.

As Arcee walked away, Jack and Optimus had a chance to talk regarding what had happened earlier that day and the situation with Soundwave.

"Optimus, can I talk to you for a little, there are some things that I need to speak to you about," Jack said.

"Yes Blurr, in fact I need to speak to you as well." With that the Autobot leader and new scout walked down the tunnel that led out of the mountain.

XXXX

The titan of an Autobot and his tiny armor clad ally walked down the tunnel for a while before the first words were said. Jack decided to be the first to talk as he knew Optimus had a way about him and talking about things. He was good with making decisions but was very lacking in most other departments, mainly giving advice.

"Optimus, I wanted to apologize earlier for leaving you alone with Soundwave and Slipstream, it was stupid and reckless. I didn't think of what might happen if I left and I put you in danger. I'm sorry." Jack said looking at the ground as he walked in shame.

"Blurr, I believe that you made a wise decision leaving when you did. You were conflicted with your emotions following your first real combat situation; there is much to learn from an experience such as that." Optimus said in his usual calm and patient voice.

"I was hoping you hadn't noticed that I was shook up from that. But that doesn't excuse the fact that I left you alone with them, what if something happened?" Jack asked quickly.

"Blurr, I knew you were going through a lot at the time that is why I gave you permission to leave. If I felt I would have been incapable of handling Soundwave and Slipstream I wouldn't have let you leave."

"I know Optimus but,"

"Jack," Optimus saying his name to help make his point. "You are a young warrior, one of the youngest I have seen in thousands of years. But I have seen you mature and make better, more informed decisions in the last few days, than Autobots that are thousands of years older then yourself. That shows that with your new power you have not become arrogant. Instead you have matured into a better soldier, and I am proud of you." Optimus saying this with his arms folded behind his back looking out the entrance to the tunnel at the night sky.

"Thank you, thank you Optimus, coming from you that means more than you will ever know." Jack said with a hint of surprise in his voice over the compliment he was just given by the Prime.

"Blurr, I wasn't always a prime or a soldier; I was once a data clerk. I too went through what you are experiencing right now. Although you might doubt yourself right now, I believe that you will find your place." Optimus stated kneeling down on one knee to help drive what he was saying to his young comrade.

"Optimus, I, I, I don't know what to say honestly. I've been through so much and I don't have anyone to really talk with about it. I mean Arcee is always there for me, but she's not what I need to deal with this." There was a pause in their conversation as Jack looked for the right works. "Optimus you know I never really knew my father, and over the past few months I've kind of looked up to you as I would have my own father."

The Prime looked at Blurr and was completely dumbfounded, and had no words that seemed to help his situation. He simply let Blurr continue.

"So what I saying is, well, you are my father-figure that I want to learn from," Jack said with every ounce of conviction he could muster.

With that said the Prime, for one of the first times in his long existence, was unable to come up with a reasonable response. After several minutes the Prime finally was able to process what had just been said and was able to organize a proper response.

"Blurr, I am truly honored that you want to learn from me." Is all the Prime could come up with, Jack realizing that he must have caused Optimus to have a Cybertronian version of a brain fart.

Without prompting, Optimus turned and began walking back down the tunnel into the base. Jack noticing that he must have made the Prime uncomfortable quickly followed but didn't say anything. The Autobot leader and his scout walked, only the sound of his own armored feet on the concrete and Optimus's colossal feet lightly walking next to him filling the tunnel. For minutes the two walked next to each other before reaching the opening to the main atrium in the base where the rest of Team Prime was located. Jack had thought their conversation was over, but to his surprise Optimus did have something to say.

Bending down on one knee again, Optimus in a very personal tone told Jack who was looking into his optics. "Jack, you have come so far in such a short amount of time, even for your species. I truly believe you have the capacity of greatness. I am honored that you look up to me as you do even though it is unusual for our race to understand. I will teach you all that I know so that you can become a great soldier one day, and so that you can protect those important to you."

"You mean Arcee don't you Optimus?" Jack questioned looking in the direction of her quarters.

"Yes Jack I do. I know you care immensely for Arcee, as I am sure she does for you, and if there is something worth fighting to protect, I believe that she is your best reason." Optimus said in a tone that showed he was not used to talking like this because of the change in his voice.

Jack laid his hand on the Prime's leg and said only one thing, "Thank you Optimus, thank you for understanding." With that said Jack walked back into the main chamber and Optimus returned to his feet and followed closely behind him.

XXXX

Jack passed the rest of Team Prime who was unusually active even for this time of night. Even though it was a Friday night, Miko and Raf were still going strong. Miko was asking Slipstream all sorts of questions and Raf and Bee were talking amongst themselves.

As Jack made his way past the group, he told them he was going to get some rest from his rather full day of getting in his first battle, getting stomped by Megatron, and meeting a new set of unlikely allies. He didn't bother to tell them about the mental side of what he was going through because it didn't concern them. Just before he left the main chamber, Jack yelled to an unlikely individual.

"YO SOUNDWAVE!" Soundwave, giving him his attention, turned to signify he heard him.

"You and I need to have a little chat sometime in the future. Oh and welcome to the team." Were Jack's last comments as the small armor covered human left the sight of the new guest.

What Jack and no one else for that matter knew was for the first time in many mega cycles, Soundwave felt welcome and he felt like he belonged. None of them would have guessed that under his visor Soundwave cracked a smile as his seemingly new pint-sized ally walked out of the room.

XXXX

Arcee was in her quarters sitting on her berth with her light on waiting for her Jack to come in.

"Where is he? He should have been here by now." Arcee said to herself.

Getting frustrated waiting for Jack, the femme decided to get up and go find him only to find a fully clothed Jack walking through the door to her quarters moments before she reached the door.

"I was just coming to find you, what took you so long?" Arcee inquired, both hands on her hips and her head tilted to one side expecting an explanation from him for making her wait.

"I needed to talk to Optimus about my needing to be alone earlier today."

"And?" Arcee asked in a demanding tone.

"He understood why I needed time to think. Also he will teach me what he can so I can better protect those important to me." Jack said hoping that his femme partner would catch on.

"And who would those possibly be that you would want to protect Jack?" Arcee questioned hoping to get the response she wanted.

Jack walked closer to Arcee and placed his hand on the blue metal of her right leg, looked up at her. "So I can protect the one person in this crazy world I love more than anything and want to spend the rest of my life with." Jack said in a slow and loving voice, and that's all it took to get a response out of Arcee. With that said she transformed to her human form and pulled Jack in for a hug that inadvertently pressed his face into her very large breasts. She held him there for what was a while since she had no real decency about being naked she didn't care. Meanwhile Jack was not complaining one bit, he was so enjoying what was happening to him right now, and he didn't care one bit. Arcee ran her fingers through is dark black hair and gave him a kiss on his head.

"Arcee"

"Yes Jack?"

"I, I love you." Jack said with every fiber of his being he could muster that wasn't focused on the large voluptuous breasts his face was buried in.

Arcee released her grip of him and looked him in his glowing blue eyes.

"I, I, ….." Arcee looked away, part of her combat training kicked in preventing her from getting emotional even though this was perfect the time for it. Jack noticed this and put his hand on her cheek and turned her optics back to his. With that he pulled her head to his and gave her a kiss that seemed to light her spark like he did the first time they kissed. He put his hands on the back of her head and pulled her in tighter. Jack could feel her full, round breasts squeezing against his chest and the warmth of her body. He loved it and so did she. Suddenly Arcee picked Jack up and quickly carried him over the berth and laid on top of him. She then proceeded to touch his face and admire how soft and warm his skin was.

Arcee moved in for another kiss, and after a few seconds she released him. "I love you too, Jack. Stay with me please." The blue femme said in an almost pleading and begging tone.

"I will never leave you, not now, not ever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And one day when this war is behind us, I want to have a family with you." As Jack said those last few words, something changed inside of Arcee.

"Have a family with me?" she thought, up until a few days ago that was completely impossible. But now it was and she wanted that so much; even though she couldn't fully understand what it all meant, she wanted to know. She wanted to know so badly what it was like to have a family.

"Jack, I want to have a family with you too, I just, I can't explain it but I want it all now." Arcee said not totally sure of what she was saying.

"I'm sorry love but we can't, not now, not until there are no more cons to worry about. Not until we can make the world a safe place. Only then can we bring our children into this world." Jack said with a hint of remorse, he knew she wanted this so much right now but the logical side of him was telling him that they both needed to wait. Arcee understood this, she hadn't thought about whether it would be safe for them to do it or not to do it; she just wanted to know what it was like so bad she could almost taste it.

Jack saw this and decided to give her some words of encouragement.

"Hun, when the time is right we will both know, and believe me when it is right I don't think there's a force in the universe that is going to stop us from bringing a new life into this world together. And, maybe one day when this is all over we can all return to Cybertron and rebuild what has been lost." Jack said unsure how she would react to the last part of his statement but it was too late now.

Arcee straightened her legs and laid her hand on his chest, the femme was so conflicted with her new emotions that were brought on by her new hormones. She didn't fully understand them but she knew what they were telling her to do. They were telling her to procreate, but she didn't even know if she was truly ready for it. And Jack already had to tell her to wait.

"Jack I'm sorry, I, I am having trouble controlling myself when I'm like this. All I ever seem to do is look at you and want to jump you. How did you ever control yourself around other girls before?" Arcee asked.

"Well I never found the right person for me, to be honest, sure there are ways a guy can relieve himself of his animal urges but I never really well, umm."

Arcee looked at him confused since she had no idea what he was talking about. And he was far too embarrassed to explain it to her.

Jack continued where he left off. "SO you just learn to control it with time I suppose, for me growing up the changes came slowly over years and they just became part of life."

"Was there ever anyone that you wanted to well, you know, be with besides me?" Arcee asked regretting that she might not like his answer.

"Honestly no, I never found someone who I thought could appreciate me for who I am. I'm not a guy with that good of looks or a lot of money, so girls didn't pay much attention to me in school. As for out of school I wasn't that high on the social ladder so I didn't get to spend time with girls either. But-"

Jack stopped in mid-sentence because his thought process had been interrupted.

"BUT?" Arcee asked.

"That all changed when I met you, I mean in the beginning it wasn't like that. You were my guardian and I respected you as such. But as we spent more time together I did find myself becoming more and more attracted to you, even though we are different species. I mean I remember when we were on recon missions and I would steal looks at you. And this was before you got well, Upgraded I guess. I found you beautiful; I liked everything about you, the way you moved, the way you smiled, and your laugh. And now that you've been reformatted I find it so damn hard to keep my eyes off of you or my hand for that matter when were together."

As Jack said this, Arcee's smile just got bigger and the warm feeling she felt inside burned hotter with each passing word he said. Jack continued to talk, but at this point Arcee was so captivated by his words that she didn't care anymore. Jack kept talking until he was again interrupted, but this time was different. This time Arcee's hand had begun groping his member and his attention was completely obliterated. The conversation quickly turned into Arcee ripping Jack's shirt trying to take it off as he did the best he could to remove his pants before she ripped those off too.

Arcee felt so much of what she could only describe as ecstasy; the heat between their bodies, the electricity they both shared was just as magical and intoxicating as the first night they spent together.

When Jack had finally removed the necessary clothing Arcee wasted no time to firmly sit down on his shaft, and letting out an earth shattering scream of pleasure that everyone in the base heard.

XXXX

Raf thought someone had been hurt and had no idea what was going on.

Miko couldn't help but make a smart ass comment. "Ahhh they're knocking boots again, this time he must be giving to her real hard. Oh man can you hear that Bulk?" Miko asked looking up to Bulkhead who was doing his best to ignore what noises were coming out of Arcee's quarters.

Ratchet was so startled he jumped and dropped the equipment Arcee decided to smash in her anger earlier. Utterly damaging it beyond any chance of repair at this point, he threw his once new energon reader that was now a smashed, crushed, and mangled heap of metal into the scrap pile.

Optimus couldn't help but adjust his gaze to the hallway the scream came from and thought to himself what caused it. However after careful consideration, he decided he was better off not knowing.

Slipstream was rather startled from the sound not knowing what it was or who it was from asked Bumblebee what caused it.

Bee simply replied. ("You don't want to know, believe me!")

Soundwave was still thinking over what Jack said to him earlier and thus couldn't be bothered by the scream that came from the hallway leading to personal quarters.

XXXX

After an hour, the new Cybertronian couple were covered in each other's fluids and they loved every moment of it. The berth they were laying on turned from a cold metal table to a hot metal table that felt like a warm bed to the two laying there.

Jack was lying across Arcee's neck resting his head just above her ample breasts and she had her arms wrapped around him holding his head close to hers as she ran her fingers through his thick black hair. They were both so tired yet so happy, they couldn't have asked for anything else but to be in each other's embrace. Just before they both drifted off to sleep Jack made a single comment. "We need to get a more comfortable bed!"


	3. Unfamiluar Ground

Rise of a Warrior v2 Chapter 15 part B

**Hello everyone, I would like to ask for those who are interested in this story to leave any suggestions in the reviews. I have several chapters written ahead of this one but I'm going to make it a habit to release one per week so I have a buffer. Anyone who would like to be entrepreneurial and give me more detailed ideas or suggestion please message me and I will get back to you in a few days. Until then Please Enjoy this chapter, I'm sure you will like it.**

**Chapter 15 Part B **

It was some time earlier the next day when Jack awoke to find himself alone on the berth in Arcee's quarters. Jack quickly looked around to see if Arcee was in the room, but it appeared that he was indeed alone. Still rubbing his sleepy eyes, Jack proceeded to put on what remained of his clothes only to realize that Arcee had literally torn all of his clothes apart taking them off the night before.

So there poor Jack stood with a ripped and tattered shirt and a pair of pants that looked like someone took a shredder to them.

"Well isn't this just great, and this was my favorite set of clothes to wear. Damn it Arcee, take it easier next time." With that Jack had two options: one was walk around the base butt-naked and cause a scare. And possibly have Arcee tackle him again which he wouldn't mind. Or two, put on his armor and walk around butt naked underneath.

"Ahh what the hell," Jack said pushing the door open from Arcee's quarters.

Jack emerged in his battle armor from Arcee's quarters expecting to find himself in the hallway of the base, but he couldn't have been more wrong. As Jack finally got outside of the room, he was surrounded by a room engulfed in white light. He couldn't make out anything, no wall, no floor, and the door he just came through was gone behind him.

Jack wasted no time activating his weapons, his helmet quickly enclosed his head, and his all too familiar HUD came to life. Quickly scanning the room or wherever he was, he could pick up nothing, not a single reading. When he checked his compass and position sensor he got no readings, static merely showed up where those indicators would usually be on his HUD. The only thing he seemed to read was a faint energy reading that was some distance away.

"What the hell, nothing, com is dead, GPS is not responding, my compass is even offline. Where the hell am I?" Jack asked starting to feel tension build inside him from the present situation.

Several minutes passed until he finally came to the realization that the only real lead he had was to go to the energy signal he was reading far off in the distance. Jack calculated the distance and was astonished at how far away the signal was.

"So how far off is that signal? Let's see…. Holy Shit! Twenty thousand miles!" His HUD read: ESTIMATED SIGNAL DISTANCE: 20,000 MILES.

"How this possible, where am I?" Jack shouted having his voice blast through his armor's exterior speakers.

Regaining his composure he quickly decided to do some quick calculations and found that even with his remaining energon, he would literally be using almost every last percent of energy getting there. There was no way he would make it, but at this point he didn't seem to have any other choice. Tracking the reading, Jack decided to activate his leg thrusters and stretch every last bit of energon he had to get to his target. This meant no overdoing it. Just smooth flying the whole way.

Moments later with his course plotted, he activated his thrusters and was off. With an efficient speed of 550 mph it would take him over 36 hours to get there. Realizing this, he set what could only be described as a basic autopilot function his armor had to get him to his destination.

XXXX

9 hours later Jack had been flying for some time and covered over 4,900 of his 20,000 mile journey. Thank god he downloaded his entire iPod to his suit so he wasn't bored out of his mind. Listening to a mix of Queen, ACDC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and some other bands he was at least entertained. After a while though, something was amiss; during his whole time in flight none of his energy readouts had changed. His energon levels remained the same as when he started. Thinking that there must have been a problem with his suit, Jack ran an internal diagnostic. Moments later his systems read all optimal.

"Ok what the scrap is going on? I should have used at least some of my energy, but it still says 100%." With that Jack decided to see what would happen if he opened his flight system to full throttle. Moments later a familiar feeling came over Jack as he was subjected to massive G-forces as his body was now rocketing at his max speed. With his new found speed, Jack quickly closed the gap between himself and his destination.

2 hours, 50 minutes later.

His reading was close, real close: 20 miles, 15 miles, 10, 7, 4, 2 with that Jack saw something his scans couldn't identify. It was bright whatever it was. As the last mile was closed, Jack backed off his speed and easily landed a few hundred meters from where the signal was coming from. Cautiously walking the rest of the way until he was around 90 meters away, Jack was finally able to make out what his scans were picking up.

A figure that he had seen before and would not soon forget, a Cybertronian clad in a radiant knight's armor that had a brilliant glow.

"_I'm pleased to see that you made it here, how have you been Jackson Darby?"_ The familiar Cybertronian said to Jack as he closed the last 50 feet between them.

"Prima, I should have known you were the one who brought me here, what's up with making me fly all the way out here anyway?" Jack asked as his first question in frustration.

"_Do not anger yourself with small trifles such as that, you are more than capable of handling such minor inconveniences, are you not?" _ The Prime asked knowing already what the human/Cybertronian's answer would be.

"Yeah but still not necessary," Jack said with a stern voice.

"_Actually Jackson Darby, it was very necessary; the further you traveled to me, the more you left your physical body,"_ Prima said.

"Wait, don't tell me I'm dead again? What is this all about Prima?" Jack asked again, this time insisting on a response from the Prime.

Prima shifted his stance to make the conversation with Jackson Darby more personal and less strict.

"_The further you traveled to me, the easier it is for us to make contact with you Jackson. I know you have many questions and unfortunately I will be unable to answer many of them. But right now I must speak with you about a matter far more important than your questions."_ After hearing this, Jack's attention was all on Prima now more concerned about what kind of news the Prime was about to tell him, and he knew that if he was here then it couldn't be good.

"Ok shoot," Jack said mentally preparing himself for what was to come.

"_With the damaging and activation of the Rift Ripper by Megatron, a set of cataclysmic events were set in motion that cannot be easily undone. That is why you are here Jackson Darby."_

"_Yes, that is why we have called you here today fleshling, to deliver you a warning!"_

Jack's attention was suddenly directed everywhere, a voice that he had never heard before was emanating from what seemed to be everywhere. Then he heard footsteps and quickly turned to find a man, an older man, a human man walking towards him in a suit that made him look like he was attending a funeral or something.

"_Ah brother Amalgamous, this is truly unexpected,"_ Prima said with a hint of surprise.

"And who might you be sir?" Jack asked attempting to be somewhat polite to the new addition to their conversation.

"_I am one of the Thirteen fleshling," _the old man said seeming to play off the fact that he claims to be a prime, but yet looked remarkably human which sent Jack's mind into overdrive with questions.

"Um, ok if you are one of the thirteen, why do you look human?" Jack asked hoping to get his question at least answered.

"_I chose this form to make you feel more comfortable fleshling, now listen to why we have gathered you here, no more questions, time is short!"_

Jack returned his eyes to Prima who began to explain why he had brought him all the way here.

"_As I stated earlier, the cause of this meeting is the Rift Ripper." _Amalgamous gave an audible huff when he heard that thing's name.

"_The Rift Ripper was thought to be an old relic of Cybertronian history, but its origins are far older than that I'm afraid. It was originally a weapon designed during the final battles with Unicron. A weapon that allowed unlimited travel between universes; when functioning properly this might not be a problem. However because it was damaged and then activated." _Jack knew something really bad was coming as he gritted his teeth waiting on Prima's next words. _"It caused a dangerous imbalance in the multiverse fabric of space."_

Jack interrupted, "Um ok yeah you lost me, I don't know much about multi-dimensional physics," giving a small laugh.

"_Do not take this as being funny fleshling, more is at stake than you realize, everything and everyone, including your precious Arcee will perish if this isn't resolved." _With that said everything for Jack suddenly changed. His attitude went from somewhat ignorant to completely serious in the blink of an eye.

"Tell me how we fix this; what do I have to do, NAME IT!" Jack said insistently not caring what the cost would be, even if it meant him dying again.

"_You will need to bring the Rift Ripper to Cybertron. Only then is there a chance that the damage that has already been done and what will happen can be undone." _The Prime said with full conviction in his voice.

"_Yes fleshling, only then can the damage be undone," _the old man said as he adjusted his tie.

"Ok so all we have to do is get the Rift Ripper to Cybertron, then what?" Jack asked leading into another question.

"_Then we let thoughtless Solus fix her invention that she foolishly made,"_ Amalgamous said with a sigh of distaste or even hate in his voice.

"_Indeed my brother is right, only then can our sister Solus fix this problem that threatens all life. But know this Jackson Darby, your journey will not be as easy as you first assume. You must venture to the heart of Cybertron to its very core, to where the Well of Sparks is closest to your plane of existence. And you will encounter evil of great power deep in Cybertron, evil that has long laid dormant, evil from our time that you are not ready for."_

Jack interrupted, "But I won't have to go at this alone right, I will have the Autobots with me and we will do it together." The young boy said to both primes trying to act as if he couldn't fail.

"_Ha, you're going to need a lot more that a handful of Autobots to get in there fleshling."_

"_Indeed what my brother says is true, your Team Prime will not be enough to get you into the heart of Cybertron. You will need the aid of all Cybertronians to get you into the core. It was left heavily damaged and when our planet finally went dark, long forgotten evil was unleashed and has been guarding the core ever since."_

It took Jack a minute to process what he was just told until he finally realized what was being said. "Wait, you mean to tell me I'm going to need the Decepticons' help to get in there, are you out of your scraping mind? They would rather kill us than help us!" Jack shouted.

"_We will leave it up to you, Jackson Darby, to gain the aid of those you call Decepticons, even though you might not consider them allies, they are still our brethren, and yours."_

With those last words the bright room stated to fade black as Prima and Amalgamous began to fade away. But not before saying one last thing to Jack.

"_Jackson Darby we have entrusted you with tremendous power, power you have not yet realized, but in time you will find your inner power and when you do, your path will be clear. Until then, I will give you a gift that will protect you until you are ready!"_

"Wait, ready for what Prima?" Jack questioned but didn't receive an answer. Finally everything went black and Jack woke up on the berth with Arcee still sleeping next to him.

XXXX

Jack laid there with his naked femme sleeping next to him. Thinking about what had just happened, wondering if it was just a dream or if it actually happened. He couldn't be sure; it seemed so real, so vivid, and he remembered everything which was unusual for his dreams that he was able to remember.

Jack decided to get up and go for a walk to think about it only to find something startling: his clothes that had been torn in his dream were exactly the same; then he knew something was wrong. The possibility that he wasn't dreaming became more and more likely in his mind. He needed to tell someone, but whom?

"Prime, I've got to talk to Optimus." Activating his armor, except for his helmet, he opened the door to leave, but paused, looked back at Arcee who was still sleeping on the berth. After seeing her laying there, Jack walked back over to his lovely Arcee who was sleeping with a peaceful look on her face. Leaning over her, he gave her a kiss on the forehead before again proceeding to leave. As he exited their quarters, he looked back at her and quietly said, "I will do whatever it takes to protect you, no matter the cost." With that Jack closed the door and left to find Optimus.

XXXX

Jack made it to the main chamber and found the only person there to be Soundwave who was still standing where he was when Jack left earlier. Miko and Raf were both passed out on the couch in front of the TV that was still playing. But the rest of Team Prime had turned in for the night, which was unusual because Ratchet was usually out working all hours of the day.

"Hey Soundwave, have you seen Optimus?" Jack asked playfully not expecting an answer. But to his surprise he did get one from the silent bot. Soundwave simply pointed down the hallway he had walked from.

"Is Optimus in his quarters?" Jack asked and again to his surprise Soundwave answered him with a simple nod.

Jack turned around and began making his way down the hall, but not before saying, "Thanks Soundwave."

Soundwave was rather surprised by the human's respect and politeness he had shown him even though he didn't necessarily deserve it. And to be honest, the human Autobot was growing on him, even though he didn't like to admit it.

Jack quickly made his way to what he believed to be Optimus's quarters; he wasn't sure except that it had an Autobot symbol on the door when none of the others did. Jack quietly knocked on the large metal door.

After a few seconds a voice did come from the other side of the door. "Yes who is there?" The voice was most certainly the Prime's voice.

"Optimus, it's Jack. I need to talk to you, it's important." Jack said wondering what was going to happen next.

A few moments later the Autobot leader responded, "You may enter."

Jack hesitated before he entered the Prime's private quarters; he had never been in them and was for all intents and purposes kind of nervous, but what he had to say was far too important to get caught up on something like that now.

As the door shut he could hear Optimus simply say, "What is on your mind Blurr?"


	4. The Warning

An hour passed as Jack explained what had just happened to the Autobot leader who was eagerly listening to each word he said. By the time they were done conversing over what had happened, the Prime was even more concerned than he was when Jack had originally went into his coma and came out changed.

"Jackson, if what you say is true and I believe every word, we will all need to pull together if we are to make it through this." The Prime tried to give his scout a sign of appreciation and give him a pat on the shoulder. However what resulted from this was something neither of them could have possibly expected. With the simple touch, a large electrical spark was emitted from the Prime's fingers to Jack's body which caused him to cry out in pain. Both Jack and Optimus had no idea what had just happened.

A second later Jack doubled over in pain and for several seconds Jack screamed in pain as something happened to his body, something that felt like his insides were being torn apart. The cries were so loud they woke Arcee who was still asleep down the hall.

Arcee, hearing the cries, knew they were Jack's. Fearing that something had happened and one of their new guests had done something unimaginable, she bolted out the door in full combat form with blasters at the ready. Arcee screamed: "JACK WHERE ARE YOU!" Then the screams got even louder with what sounded like metal being impacted. Running down the hall, she came to Optimus's quarters just in time to see the Prime being literally hurled upside down through the doors that led to his quarters, tearing both of the doors off in the process.

Optimus landed upside down with his legs and upper body still stuck in the concrete wall outside of his quarters. His head was the only thing actually touching the floor. Seconds later the rest of Team Prime was present, weapons ready for whatever just threw their leader out of his own quarters like he was a rag doll. Inside the Prime's quarters there was tremendous dust and smoke from whatever was in there.

Arcee and Bumblebee were getting ready to ambush whatever was in there. However something else was on Arcee's mind as well, "Optimus where's Jack?"

The Prime, who was just now getting back on his feet from being thrown like an animal's plaything said: "Everyone stand down, Its-" Optimus was cut off by an unfamiliar voice coming from within the Prime's quarters. Whatever it was, it sounded big, really big.

Arcee still unsure where her Jack was demanded "Where's Jack?!"

Optimus cut in, "Arcee stand down that's an order, same to the rest of you."

"Not until you tell me where my Jack is!" Arcee insisted.

Suddenly a deep voice that had a hint of metal came from the smoke filled room simply said, "I,M RIGHT HERE ARCEE."

Shortly after this was said, a being of considerable size began to emerge from Optimus's quarters. A Cybertronian, a very large, very tall Cybertronian easily 5 feet taller than Optimus emerged from the room.

This being was large even for a Cybertronian, easily the same height an Insectacon, and armored to the teeth to boot. His armor was silver and white with a hint of blue and red in places. His arms were fitted with strange devices that glowed a light blue as did much of the rest of his body, except for his optics which glowed a brilliant white. The rest of him was armed to the teeth with what appeared to be swords and some sort of a secondary side-arm that was both considerable in size and looked like something out of the Iacon archives.

"BY THE ALL SPARK, JACK?" Ratchet said as the large Cybertronian being rubbed his head in confusion.

"Yeah it's me guys," Jack said not fully comprehending what had just happened to him; until he was actually able to look around and see that he was about 35 feet taller than he was a few moments ago. Jack looked around in disbelief for a few seconds until Arcee realized who he was.

"Jack what happened to you? How in the name of Primus did you transform into, well that? Are you Ok? Does anything hurt? Talk to me Jack." Arcee said in a voice that made it obvious she was freaking out. In point of fact they all were.

Optimus who was now over being thrown around walked up to his scout that was now considerably taller than he was. "Jackson, are you alright?"

"Yes Optimus, I'm fine, just a little confused and well, oh man I'm really sorry about hitting you. I didn't mean to." Jack said as he realized he had just thrown his friend out of his own room with enough force to have seriously hurt him.

"That's alright Jackson; I shouldn't have attempted to aid you during your transformation. The fault lies with me." Optimus said adjusting the servos in his back and the actuators in his legs from being tossed around so hard.

"Wow kid, you just tossed one of the biggest bots around with no difficulty; you should have been a wrecker." Bulkhead said admiring Jack's new body.

Bumblebee could do nothing but stand and watch in silence, he was completely speechless.

Ratchet, on the other hand, did have something intelligent to say. "Well it seems like Arcee that Jack has a large size alt-mode."

Everyone quickly looked at Ratchet as if he seemingly forgot to tell everyone critical need-to-know information. Arcee narrowed her optics and looked right at Ratchet as if she was going to burn a hole through him. "You mean to tell us you knew that this could happen Ratchet?" Arcee said expecting a good, no, a great answer.

The scientist/medical bot quickly started talking really fast, "Um, well, you see, I had hypothesized that because you had 3 forms all together that Jackson might be the same."

Arcee's gaze was only getting more intense.

Ratchet continued, "Arcee you have a human mode and you can also keep your armor on as well in that mode or leave it off. Jack can do the same with his battle armor, but he never had a large alt-form that allowed him to uncompact all his stored mass. Considering how much energon he can store inside himself, I think what we are looking at is his full sized alt-form."

Everyone upon hearing this looked back at Jack who was listening to Ratchet quietly trying to figure out what had happened to him.

"I wonder if this is the gift Prima and Amalgamous meant when I spoke to them." Jack said as everyone's gaze shot straight back to him and seemed more puzzled than ever.

Arcee asked, "How do you know of Amalgamous?" Arcee paused for a moment, "OH don't tell me they talked to you again?!"

With that said Optimus felt it was necessary to inform Team Prime, including their new guests, about the recent developments that Jackson and he had been discussing only moments earlier.

Optimus ordered everyone to the main chamber where Slipstream and Soundwave, along with Miko and Raf, were likely waiting after hearing all the commotion.

XXXX

The Autobots one by one made their way out of the tunnel that lead to the main atrium. Optimus came out first looking like he got the scrap beat out of him which caught everyone's attention; especially Slipstream who for some reason was almost overly concerned.

"Sir what happened, do you require medical attention?" the flying femme asked.

"No I am alright," Optimus said playing off the whole thing which had left his pride dented.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee came out of the tunnel one after the other not saying a word.

Ratchet came out next and was rubbing his face which one can only suspect that Arcee gave him one of her right hooks for keeping Jack's possible situation from everyone else.

Meanwhile Miko, Raf, and Soundwave for that matter, were waiting to see what had happened minutes ago that caused the team's prime to look like he went ten rounds with a warrior Insectacon.

"Guys what the scrap happened?" Miko inquired looking at Bulkhead who was going to keep out of this one given the situation; he just kept on walking past Miko which she didn't like one bit.

Raf was concerned and said in an inquisitive tone "Bee?"

But Bumblebee was staying out of this as well.

Next thing they knew Arcee was walking out from the tunnel the rest of the team came out of and wasn't followed by anyone for a few moments which was enough time for Miko to make a smart ass comment again.

"So Arcee, we ahh heard you getting some squishy last night. Did he give it to you real hard?"

Arcee simply said, "Why don't you ask him yourself."

With that said a massive Autobot walked out of the darkness that looked like something out of a comic book. Miko's eyes went as big as they possibly could without falling out of her head. Her jaw dropped and said nothing for fear this new bot might squish her with little thought.

Raf who was sitting on the railing of the overlook could do nothing more than look on in amazement as this new Autobot walked slowly with careful precision so not to step on Arcee. Raf quickly noticed that this new bot's eyes were focused on Arcee. Then it hit the 12 year old, he thought to himself, "This must be Jack." But he decided to keep that thought to himself at the moment.

Miko then decided to not think again and opened her mouth again. "Who is this guy supposed to be, holy scrap he is big, hey there buddy what your name, and where's Jack by the way?"

Jack deciding to get back at Miko for the comment she made to Arcee moments ago decided to screw with her a little.

Jack walked up to the railing Miko was holding onto. He bent slightly bringing himself down to her eyelevel letting her look into his rather large white optics then said only one thing.

"BOOOO!" with enough force to knock her flat on her backside.

Jack then gave out a rather hysterical laugh at what he had just done to his now tiny human teammate.

Miko began to pick herself up and shook off her clothes before shouting at the bot, who she didn't realize was Jack. "What's your problem bot, you got a problem with me, hugh well do ya? Bulkhead teach this scrap head a thing or two would ya."

"Oh no Mike you want to pick a fight with Jack that is your business, but keep me out of it," Bulkhead said confirming Raf's thoughts and telling everyone else at that point who didn't know that this juggernaut of a bot was in fact Jackson Darby.

Then it hit Miko like an atomic bomb. This monster of a bot in front of her was Jack. The look on Miko's face was one of indescribable shock and horror. She now realized that she was really at the end of her rope that she had figuratively just hanged herself with. Now she was truly done making jokes about Arcee and him at this point.

Miko now realizing the error of her ways gave a subtle smile and simply said, "Hey Jack, um did you do something with your hair?"

XXXX

All of Team Prime, including its two new guests, stood in silence as they listened to Jack while still in his large alt-form. Jack reiterated everything that he could remember, having Optimus help fill in any gaps he forgot to add. As Jack continued explain what was apparently going to happen regarding the Rift Ripper that was now in Decepticon possession. Everyone seemed taken aback by the whole situation. And for many of the team, the thought of returning to Cybertron put a kink in their servos because of the pain they each felt seeing their home in utter shambles.

Jack realized this after he explained the part of journeying to Cybertron's core. All the bots in the base for that matter seemingly looked away in utter disbelief. However their attention was instantly grabbed again when both Jack and Optimus mentioned the Well of Sparks. With those three words all Cybertronians present, aside from Jack and the Prime, looked like they had seen a ghost.

"The Well of Sparks, Primus it actually exists?" Ratchet said not believing the words coming out of his own mouth.

"It would seem so old friend," Optimus added hoping to help Ratchet regain his composure that was utterly lost.

Bee chirped, ("Wow, why does everything involving you have to be so scrapping difficult Jack?")

Jack, who was now a giant compared to Bee, thought for a moment before answering, "I never asked for this Bee, none of us would. Honestly I'm still questioning whether what happened was a dream or reality, but I know that I came out of a dream knowing things that I didn't know before."

Arcee could see that he was frustrated and came in to offer a comforting hand. She placed hers on the outside gauntlet of his right hand, a hand that could now easily hold her with little difficulty.

The Prime then stepped in realizing that his comrade was still having trouble dealing with the present situation. "This situation is one of dire circumstances; we will need to ally ourselves with all our brothers if we are to ever have a hope of succeeding."

Several seconds passed until Team Prime began to fully understand what the Prime meant when he said "Ally ourselves with all our brothers."

Bulkhead suddenly raised his head and looked at Optimus. "Wait, you don't mean…" was all Bulk could say before being interrupted by his new juggernaut teammate.

"Yes, I think you understand what Optimus means Bulk." There was a long pause before Jack spoke again. "We need Megatron and his mechs to help us if we want to survive."

For what had to be the tenth time in the last 24 hours the team was again shocked.

"WWHAATTTT!" Arcee shouted in unison with Miko.

Ratchet seemed to lose his balance at the suggestion of working with the Cons and smacked his head into the wall he was standing next to; which only added to the pain his processors were coping with because of Arcee's fist earlier.

Bee and Bulkhead both seemed to take a deep breath and cleared their vents without saying anything, realizing that there probably was no other way.

All of Team Prime was in utter shock but what happened next sent all of them falling to the ground with earth-shattering force. For whom spoke next was the absolute last person that any of them thought would add to the conversation.

Soundwave looked up and simply said in a voice that sounded alien, even to the other Autobots.

"**How long do we have?"**

At this point Miko shrieked from the surprise, Ratchet nearly fainted because it was all too much, and Optimus looked to Soundwave then to Jack because he didn't know how long they actually had. Bee chirped ("Holy Scrap, he actually said something!")

Bulkhead was stunned and said nothing along with Raf and Slipstream.

What felt like minutes passed and there wasn't a sound in the base, you could probably hear a pin drop a mile away for how quiet it was. Eventually all eyes were on Jack because none of them knew how long until the proverbial fabric of the universe would unravel.

Arcee was the next to ask, "Jack how long?"

Jack shook his head and thought back to what Prima had said to him before he left.

"_Time in short, you have roughly 10 human days before the damage will become irreversible."_

Returning to the question he was asked Jack said, "10 days!"

With that the looks on everyone's face, including Soundwave's for that matter, was a sign of what could only be described as utter defeat.

Optimus decided to step in at this point and do what he did best. "As we all realize the situation presently facing us is one of grave consequences should we fail. We have overcome so much over the megacycles together and we will do so again."

XXXX

Ratchet was giving the new white bot a quick look over given his recent physical change. Jack was sitting on the berth tapping his feet on the floor waiting for the prognosis from Ratchet. Ratchet being his usual self was eagerly looking over scans of Jack's new alt-form.

"Everything seems to be alright, except…. By the All Spark!" Ratchet said looking at the Prime.

"What do you see Ratchet?" Optimus asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"He, he, he has no T-COG!" the medic said nearly losing his mind.

As those words were spoken all the bots in the room seemed to look at Jack in utter shock and confusion.

"So what does that mean exactly, am I missing something I should have or what?" Jack questioned wondering what was the matter.

Arcee with a concerned face put her hand on Jack's arm. "Jack, a T-COG is what allows all Cybertronians to transform, without one you can't transform in any way," the blue femme said.

"So then how is it that I could turn into, well, this without one?" Jack asked looking at Ratchet.

"I honestly haven't a clue, your systems are designed differently. I still can't figure out what caused you to transform in the first place. Whatever it was successfully unlocked all of your stored mass."

"It happened when I made contact with Optimus. I don't know what it was either, but it sure was painful." Jack said remembering the experience.

The med bot paused before finishing, as all the eyes in the room shifted to the Prime an unpleasant feeling filled him.

"I am unsure what I did on my part to cause this to happen. My systems didn't even register anything of any sort either." The Prime said hoping to alleviate any animosity that might be felt against him.

Looking back at Ratchet who was about to speak again, Optimus's mind was full of questioning thoughts, "What caused this, am I responsible," all these thoughts were filling the bot's processors.

Ratchet continued, "There's something else as well. In this form Jack is lacking a conventional spark chamber. He seems to have some sort of energon source within his body, but I can't even begin to fathom how it works or what it even is. But it's extremely powerful." Optics all around the room except for Jack's went wide with surprise.

"Um ok, so is this bad in my case or what then?" Jack inquired asking the group again hoping to get an answer he could use.

"No Jackson it's not a problem, it's just that in this form you have a great power. A power I hope you are ready for." Optimus said stepping into the conversation.

"Indeed you are right Optimus; I will need more time to run over these scans thoroughly to gain a better understanding of what this system is and if we can apply it anywhere else."

"Very well Ratchet, everyone else we must prepare for the battle ahead of us," Optimus stated looking at all who stood before him.


	5. Unlikley Allies

XXXX

Jack, who since returned to his more human-sized form, was seen talking with Optimus at the entrance to the ground bridge. Jack was determined to seek out the Decepticons by himself in order to gain their aid. He and Optimus had spoken for some time before the Prime finally gave into his scout's decision to talk to Megatron himself.

"Jackson, I want you to know I don't think this is the best idea to gain Megatron's aid," Optimus said to his silver armored scout.

"Optimus I have to do this," Jack said looking back at Arcee who was watching him talk to the Prime, knowing that this could be the last time he ever saw her. But knowing that if he was to protect her, if he was to have any chance of protecting her, this is what he would have to do. And do it alone.

Jack clenched his fist and looked up to the Prime towering over him waiting for him to continue what he was saying moments before.

"Optimus I believe this is why Prima choose me, he said I had unimaginable power inside me. I think he was talking about my ability to get people to work together, my talents at diplomacy. So I'm going and that is the end of it." Jack said thinking of all the ways this plan of his could go wrong.

"Jackson Darby, for the first time in many years I have finally witnessed someone who possesses the same qualities I had when I was Orion Pax," Optimus said then pausing contemplating what to say next. "When you find Megatron, he will assume you are hostile. I want you to tell him what I'm about to tell you and he should at least give you an opportunity to speak." The Prime cleared his vents that could be only described as a human form of taking a deep breath.

"Til all are one," Optimus said noticing Jack was curious as to what it meant exactly.

Optimus then without question answered what it meant, "When Megatron was a gladiator it is what people would say to him in respect for his victory. Saying that to him will likely take him off guard and he should grant you an audience."

Jack gave a simple nod signaling that he understood.

"Ratchet, activate the ground bridge to the Nemesis's last known location."

The ground bridge powered to life and the portal opened. Turning to walk down the ramp leading to the portal, Jack stopped to say one last thing to the Prime. "Optimus I need a favor," Jack said.

Optimus gave him his undivided attention.

"Keep her safe for me until I come back."

The Prime gave him his word, "I will do all in my power to keep her safe until your return my friend."

Jack then yelled one last thing to Arcee who was still fretting over him doing this crazy mission.

"I PROMISE ARCEE, I WILL COME BACK FOR YOU!" With that Jack activated his leg thrusters and flew through the ground bridge.

XXXX

Jack was in the middle of a deserted rocky clearing that looked like a place the Con war ship would hang out.

Scanning the area, he didn't find any readings of the Nemesis. So he decided to do what he knew would get their attention: causing a very large energy reading to show up on their scans.

Jack proceeded to activate the device Ratchet gave him; it was a mock-up of an energon beacon that was powered by a large quantity of synthetic energon. Slowly the energy level rose and he knew the Cons would find him.

"Blurr?" Ratchet said over the comm, "It appears to be working, we can read the energy signature here and it is massive, you shouldn't be alone for long."

By the time Ratchet finished his sentence, Jack's suit picked up a very distant sound that he knew was more than likely Megatron.

"Ratchet it looks like my company is on its way." Jack closed the comm link and looked in the direction of the incoming object. Not twenty seconds later Jack was able to pick out a jet that was unmistakably Megatron's.

XXXX

The Decepticon leader was curious as to what was reading on his scans as a massive energon signal. He needed that power for himself he thought.

As he got closer to the signal's location, he descended through the clouds and made out a visual of a very small object at the epicenter of the reading.

"Ahh there is my prize. I'm sure the wrenched Autobots will be here soon, I must hurry." Megatron wasted no time transforming and landing just short of what was causing his scans to go off the chart.

Jack could feel his heart begin to race as he saw Megaton transform and land only a few hundred feet in front of him.

"HA HA HA, Come to die puny runt, you shouldn't be out here all alone." Megatron said with arrogance, then looking at his hand remembering what he did to him the last time he saw this small insect of an Autobot.

"I will crush you slowly, painfully for what you did to my hand last time we met you runt," the Decepticon leader said unafraid walking towards Jack. "And where are your friends, did they forget about you, or are they hiding somewhere around here?" Megatron said expecting to see Optimus come out of somewhere.

"They're not coming; this is between you and me Megatronus!" Jack said hoping to appeal to his company's good side.

Megatron was slightly shocked to hear this small runt use his full name, but that made no difference to him, he had a free Autobot in front of him to crush.

Megatron again began to close the distance between them when the puny runt did something that was totally unexpected. Jack knelt down on one knee, knowing he was going to have to milk this situation for all he could to get Megatron to listen, began to speak.

"I seek an audience with you great gladiator of Kaon." Then taking a deep breath said the secret words Optimus had told him. Placing his hand firmly on his chest Jack said, "TIL ALL ARE ONE!"

This made Megatron who was about to blast Jack with his fusion cannon pause for a moment, the Decepticon deliberated whether to listen to this tiny runt or just annihilate him. Moments later Megatron lowered his cannon and simply said, "Speak runt."

With that said Jack returned to his feet and looked into the optics of the massive Decepticon leader standing before him, into his burning red optics that seemed to burn of rage.

Jack then began to explain why he requested an audience with Megatron.

"The only way that any of us will survive will be to work together…" Jack said before he was cut off by Megatron who had surprisingly been listening to Jack speak for nearly 20 minutes. This was completely unheard of for Megatron.

"Ha you expect me to believe you runt? I think you greatly overestimated my gullibility." Megatron sneered.

Jack then simply responded, "The way I see it you don't have a choice. If I'm lying then you can crush me where I stand. But if what I say is true, there will be nothing you can do to escape death former gladiator."

Megatron looked at this puny metal covered bot talking to him, and for the first time actually considered his death.

Then the Decepticon leader said something Jack was hoping not to hear: "Bring me the head of Optimus Prime and I will join forces with you runt."

Jack quickly looked up and with angry eyes shouted, "NO, Absolutely not!"

"Then I guess we don't have a deal." Megatron turned to walk away seemingly forgetting about crushing Jack.

A thousand thoughts went through Jack's mind; he needed to think of something to prevent Megatron from leaving. Then it hit him, the one thing he knew Megatron wouldn't refuse.

Jack shouted, "Gladiator of Kaon, I challenge you!" With those words something primitive that Megatron hadn't felt in many megacycles came out.

In Kaon when a challenge was given, the receiver of the challenge was required under gladiator honor to accept the challenge or have his honor and life taken from him.

Megatron turned his head, looked back at Jack and said, "I accept your challenge."

XXXX

Jack and Megatron stood only a few feet apart as they quickly discussed the particulars of the battle.

"Megatronus if I defeat you, you will ally yourself with the Autobots and help us," Jack said in as serious of a voice as he could muster.

"And if I win, what do I get runt?" the Con asked.

Jack looked at the ground and simply stated, "You may do whatever you wish with me, so how about it Megatron, do you accept the terms?"

Moments later came the Con leader's answer.

"I accept!" with that Megatron unsheathed his blade and took a proper fighting stance. Blurr would now face off one on one with the Decepticon leader. Him, a lonely Autobot, one with almost no real combat experience was going to face off against Cybertron's Kaon champion. Jack thought to himself assessing his situation.

"Scrap! This could go very wrong for me," Jack quietly said to himself under his breath.

XXXX

The stage was set; Blurr and Megatron were about to battle with everything riding on the line. Blurr needed the Decepticons to work with the Autobots if they were to have any chance at all of making it to Cybertron.

Jack took an opposing fighting stance that was all too similar to Megatron's. Clouds began to roll in almost in anticipation of the battle that was about to begin. The low rumble of thunder could be heard around them as it seemed a freak storm was about to make an appearance.

(Insert Audio, (Audiomachine, Blitzkrieg)

The two warriors stood primed for the fight, Megatron assuming that the battle would over in moments and Blurr remembering his training and what he fought for.

He thought about Arcee, he remembered her smile and the best parts of her that he loved so much. An image came into his mind of him and Arcee on the mountain yesterday in each other's arms. He knew what he was going to fight for. For her, for her future, for his future, for their future.

Rain started to fall from the clouds and the skies became darker and darker. Finally it happened; a lightning strike erupted from the clouds in the background which momentarily lit the dirt where they both stood.

They both gave out a powerful war cry as they both lunged towards each other.

XXXX

Megatron moved towards Blurr with all his speed, having his blade ready to end this puny runt's existence. Blurr had other ideas however, digging his feet into the ground he pushed off with all his might and fired his leg verniers propelling himself at Megatron like a missile. Blurr charged, extending his arm blades determined not to fail.

There was no time and too little distance for Megatron to evade his foe flying at him at incredible speed. Blurr knew that he would need every ounce of speed if he was to have any effect on the titan of a Con. Deciding to go full blast and attempt to end this battle as soon as possible Blurr diverted all his power to his thrusters and hit max speed just before impacting Megatron's upper chest. His blades both penetrated Megatron's extremely thick armor, but they were simply too short to do any real damage.

The impact hit Megatron hard enough to send him flying backwards with all his extremities attempting to catch up with the rest of this body. A small stream of energon could be seen escaping from Megatron's jaw as the force of the impact had actually caused some minor internal bleeding. The con flew several hundred feet and came crashing to the ground in a shower of dust and rock. Blurr who was still attached to Megatron's chest because of his blades, used every ounce of his strength to tear open his opponent's chest armor. But it was to no avail, the con's armor was simply too thick.

Megatron finally regaining his bearings after being proverbially bullet-trained managed to get his hands around Blurr who was tearing at his chest armor.

"AHHHHH you wretched parasite, I will grind you into powder." The Con said as he squeezed Blurr with all his might in his left hand before throwing him to the ground.

Blurr could feel his body reaching its physical limits, his armor might be nearly indestructible but his internal organs were a totally different story.

Blurr let out a horrific cry of pain as he could feel his body being crushed by his foe's hand.

Suddenly with a massive impact Blurr was thrown to the ground with nearly enough force to knock him unconscious.

Determined not to let this be the end of him and ignoring all the pain he was in, Blurr managed to move out of the way of Megatron's foot that would have certainly crushed the life out of him.

His thrusters activated just in time and just enough to move him out of the way of the Deception's foot that came down with explosive force, utterly obliterating the stone below it.

The rain was coming down heavier now and the skies were filled with thunder and lightning. The fight wasn't going well. Blurr, with less speed and enthusiasm, managed to get back on his own feet. He realized that he was in serious trouble.

Blurr knew he had to think of something quickly or he would be dead before too long. He needed something, something that he could use to his advantage; knowing that brute force was only going to get him so far in this situation.

Blurr decided to use his suits ranged weapons in order to keep some distance between himself and his foe, realizing that the con was far too lethal at close range.

Powering up his blasters in his hands he adjusted his stance and once again blasted off with his leg thrusters at his opponent.

Megatron who was only a few hundred feet away was again tasked with attempting to hit a very small and fast moving object.

Blurr, prepared to fire a volley of shots from his blasters at Megatron, was focusing his aim; however his opponent wasn't going to give him a chance. The gladiator instead charged his fusion cannon and prepared to unleash its destructive power on his enemy.

Blurr's options were limited as he was on an attack path for Megatron who was now aiming his fusion cannon straight at him; suddenly a blast came from both Blurr's blasters and Megatron's cannon. The blasts collided in mid-air and erupted in a massive explosion that sent both parties crashing backwards to the ground. The energy released was so great that it sent Blurr tumbling end over end as he hit the ground skidding on its rocky surface.

Megatron, on the other hand, was simply knocked on his back and quickly recovered. By the time Blurr stopped tumbling the Decepticon leader had already gotten back on his feet and was again firing his cannon at him.

Blurr, attempting to move out of the way of the incoming blasts, did what he could to move but was unable to effectively evade the volley of shots from Megatron's rather impressive aim.

Blast after blast hit Blurr's armor, each one causing a massive explosion and releasing tremendous heat that was heating up the metal of his armor. After just a few hits, Blurr's armor was beginning to turn a light orange because of the heat it was being exposed to. But what looked like damage on the outside was only part of it. The armor that was heated was attached directly to Blurr's skin and bones and the resulting pain his body felt from the burning armor was unlike anything he has ever experienced in his life.

Cries of pain and agony came from Blurr as Megatron continued to hit him with shot after shot from his fusion cannon. And the Con was enjoying himself more and more with each landing blow.

Finally with an incoming blast Blurr attempted to evade but instead had his head and helmet take the brunt of the blast. The resulting explosion effectively tore Blurr's helmet off taking with it his protection and his battle HUD. The subsequent removal of his helmet and heat had effectively burned much of Blurr's face and his hair was burned off by the incredible heat. As the rain droplets fell and hit his armor a loud hissing sound could be heard as his armor was still superheated from the blasts. Blood was running from a gaping wound on the side of his head where the burns were much more severe.

Megatron, believing that he had removed his opponent's head, held his weapon for a pause waiting to see if he had in fact landed the finishing blow. However to the Decepticon's surprise his opponent was getting back up, his opponent was hurt and bleeding heavily but still functioning. Then he saw his true opponent's face: HE WAS HUMAN!

"WHAT, A FLESHLING, WAIT… IT'S YOU, YOU, YOU'RE THE AUTOBOT'S LITTLE HUMAN PET, YOU'RE THE ONE FROM THE MINE!" Megatron roared in what could only be described as pure rage.

Blurr now realizing that the secret was out didn't bother wasting time trying to hide who he was.

"I can't believe that all this trouble is from a puny human like you. You, a lonely human, dare make a mockery out of I, Lord Megatron? I will ground you into pasty goo for the trouble you have caused me."

Blurr then attempted to talk but doubled over in pain and blood loss. On his knees and left hand, having his right hand on his chest holding a wound that had opened up and was bleeding rather profusely declared: "IT'S NOT OVER MEGATRON, IT'S NOT OVER YET!"

Blurr then decided to use every last ounce of strength and energy he had for one final blow to Megatron. For the last time activating his thrusters he rocketed towards his foe, blood clouding his vision along with the heavy rain.

Megatron was not going to make any mistakes this time; it was time to finish this. Pulling out his blade he made a quick slice at Blurr, missing him by only a few millimeters. Blurr then in an attempt to finish his opponent and aimed for his face. Opening his thrusters to full power he rocketed toward Megatron for the final blow. Megatron, however, quickly counter-maneuvered and literally swatted Blurr out of the sky with his hand.

Blurr was sent tumbling to the ground in a sea of blue blood into a pile of stone. He was effectively beaten and he knew it. He had nothing left, nothing left to fight with. He wanted to use his large alt-form, but he was still unable to activate it at will.

Laying in a puddle of blue water that was mixing with his blood, the rain falling on his back, his armor damaged and his face badly burned he didn't see much hope for his future.

XXXX

Everyone at the base was in an absolute panic; they were reading that Jack's life signs were falling fast and indicated that he was very badly wounded. Optimus was full of regret for letting his young scout go out there alone. Arcee was screaming and crying, "JACK, Oh God no JACK, NO NO NO. Jack NO." The blue femme's cries could be heard all over the base. Even Soundwave was feeling some pain inside even though he would never admit it.

"RATCHET OPEN THE GROUND BRIDGE! WE HAVE TO GET JACK BEFROE MEGATRON KILLS HIM!" Arcee screamed.

"I can't there's too much electro-magnetic interference from the storm to open a ground bridge anywhere near Jack. I'm sorry Arcee," Ratchet said with remorse.

With those words Arcee fell to the ground and went into an uncontrollable sob. The blue femme felt as if her life was being ripped right out of her. The one person, the person she had finally loved after thousands of years was about to be taken from her. The femme didn't know what to do, none of them did.

XXXX

"Well human, it looks like this is the end of you. I will be sure to send your blue motorbike to join you soon, don't worry," Megatron said.

All Jack could do was listen, he couldn't move, just listen to Megatron before he ended his life.

With his last ounce of strength he said only one thing, "Arcee, I'm sorry."

With his blade in the air, Megatron was getting ready to deliver the final blow.

Suddenly a MASSIVE LIGHTNING STRIKE hit Jack as he lay there about to take his last breath of this life.

The light from the lightning was so bright that Megatron stepped back several steps waiting for it to dissipate.

Jack was suddenly lying in a familiar place again, covered in nothing but white light, his body covered in his own blood. He was unable to move but he could hear a voice calling to him.

"_Jackson Darby, you have displayed unyielding courage and sacrifice in order to protect those you love. These are the markings of a true leader, one who will fight to his dying breath to protect those who can't protect themselves. You are truly worthy to be a prime." _ With that said something happened, something he couldn't explain: his body no longer hurt, in fact he felt no pain at all.

Then one last message was said, _"Jackson Darby, the right of being a prime is now yours."_

XXXX

An unimaginably bright light and subsequent explosion immediately followed the lightning strike. What had felt like a few minutes to Jack had in fact only been a few milliseconds. The blast wave sent Megatron flying several hundred feet again head first to the ground. When the Decepticon leader finally looked back at where his soon-to-be-dead opponent was located he saw something, something that he couldn't describe.

An entity, massive and bathed in silver and white armor with areas of red and blue, and glowing Cybertronian markings. At first Megatron thought he was looking at Grimlock, a long lost Autobot warrior, but soon realized that this was not him. This bot was indeed different, heavily armed with blades of all sorts and some sort of very large weapon attached to his back and a set of brilliantly glowing white optics.

Megatron could only stand in awe of what he had just witnessed. The puny human who was on the verge of death had somehow transformed into a colossus of a Cybertronian that was now slightly bigger than himself.

Jack now feeling more alive and ready for payback, but something was different, he was different. Not just physically but knowledge-wise. He knew things he couldn't have possibly known, things about Cybertron, battle tactics, and fighting. It was as if he had gained the knowledge of a thousand lifetimes; it made him completely change his outlook on everything.

"It's not over Megatron, let's finish this," Jack said in a tone that he wouldn't have been able to muster moments ago.

"Ahh so the puny human had a little trick up his sleeve, no matter I will just crush you like I did once before human!" Megatron said in a mix of rage and arrogance.

Jack responded before initiating an attack on his foe, "I may be a human, but I am also a Prime!" With that Jack unsheathed one of his new blades that was easily as long as Megatron was tall.

"Come at me Megatron, if you've got the bearings to finish what you've started," Jack said hoping to further enrage his opponent.

"AHH you will die, no matter what you are, you abomination!" the Con screamed charging at Jack, his blade ready to again cut the life out of his now transformed opponent.

Jack, who was now feeling like he had been given his life back, was ready to end this.

XXXX

The Decepticon leader was again for the umpteenth time charging at his opponent, blade in hand.

Jack, holding a new blade in each of his hands, gripped their hilts firmly before he met Megatron. He was now only 10 feet from him, had unsheathed both of his blades, and made two nearly perfect cuts into Megatron. Before the Con realized what had just occurred, both of his arms were effectively removed from his chassis. Losing his balance and falling to his knees, Megatron was now covered in his own form of blood, a deep purple form of energon that flowed freely from where both his arms were once located. The Con was utterly helpless, he couldn't run from his fate now; not even transform to escape. He knew he was finished and hoped for death, but Jack had other plans.

"Megatron, yield," Jack said knowing that the Con was going to ask for death.

"Just finish me you abomination, you won't get a better chance," the Decepticon said hoping for a quick end.

"NO, we had a deal, on your honor a gladiator of Kaon you must uphold our agreement," Jack said.

Megatron clinched his sharpened teeth knowing that his opponent had him by the bearings. "Ha, this is the second time you have had a chance to kill me and yet you still refuse. You are even more pathetic than Optimus. At least he would give me an honorable death, but you, you are just weak."

Jack, who seemed to have all the right words now for some unknown reason, gave a reply he would have expected from Optimus. "Megatron, there is no honor in killing someone who can't defend himself. If the situation were different I would not hesitate to eradicate your spark and every last metal particle of your being. But you and I had an agreement, and I expect you to honor it."

A distant noise could be heard which Jack knew all too well: the Nemesis was on its way and a contingent of seekers and a whole swarm of Insectacons were descending from the sky on their position.

"Megatron, now is the time to uphold your side of the deal, before I am forced to annihilate your men," Jack said in a tone that almost frightened the con who knew he more than likely could do just that.

A few seconds later Jack was surrounded by a swarm of seekers and Insectacons, he was outnumbered by more than 400 to 1. But this didn't seem to bother the now victorious Autobot. With their weapons all pointed at Jack and the Nemesis hovering just overhead, they waited for the order to open fire, but it never came; instead something else happened entirely.

"Stand down," Megatron said; knowing that for the first time since his rather unpleasant talk with Unicron he would have to admit defeat. This burned him to his very spark, the Decepticon leader felt crushed that he was outdone by a simple human, an insect compared to him. How? He thought, how could this happen?

Jack, witnessing his foe's defeat, decided to offer some words with his new found knowledge. It seemed strange to him because the words he wanted to use sounded a lot like what Optimus would say. Kneeling down to Megatron, Jack decided to show some compassion to fallen Decepticon leader; why exactly he wasn't sure, but something was telling him to do it.

"Megatron, I know that things have happened in the past, on Cybertron, with the council. I know that they selected Orion Pax to become a prime, and I know that angered you." Jack said pausing, "Let it go, the past is the past, leave it there." Jack said hoping that given the situation he could get the con to possibly change his ways.

Megatron looked up at Jack and stared into his burning white optics; a mix of emotions could be seen in the Con's optics, what was going on in his head was a complete mystery to Jack.

Megatron began to speak, "You know nothing, a measly human could know nothing about what you're speaking of."

"I know more than you know Megatron," Jack said returning to his feet.

A distant roar of an engine could be heard, shortly after which Breakdown arrived.

XXXX

The storm was beginning to dissipate almost as fast as it appeared, and soon the sun was shining down on Jack and the rest of the Decepticon army that was only a few minutes ago ready to blast him to pieces. Megatron had been carried off to the Nemesis's med bay where Breakdown would do his best to put his leader back together.

Jack, who was still standing where he was when Megatron fell, was waiting, the sun shining down on his armor. He could feel the warmth from the sun and it did feel pleasant.

A commotion was taking place somewhere behind the wall of vehicons and seekers still pointing their guns at Jack, and with his new found height he could see that a figure was making its way toward him through the crowd of Decepticons. Eventually a very large Insectacon made its way to the front line, the last line of vehicons parted ways to let this Con that clearly had something to say close the distance to Jack.

In a matter of seconds, an Insectacon with strange markings that looked like war paint stood optic to optic with Jack. His single orange optic was looking into Jack's bright white ones.

After a few short seconds the Insectacon spoke, "I am Hardshell, my brothers and I respect and follow the strongest, YOU ARE NOW THE STRONGEST. Our loyalty now lies with you."

Jack was almost speechless by this unexpected gesture by the Insectacon. Thinking of how to respond, Jack decided to make the most of the situation as well as the present company. Taking a deep breath and clearing his vents, Jack spoke, "I will humbly accept your offer and your loyalty, Hardshell, along with your men." Then another thought came to Jack, he was surrounded by most of Megatron's forces, forces he would need to get into Cybertron's core. Carefully thinking of what to tell them, he turned his gaze and looked around himself preparing to make them all aware of the situation at hand.

In a much louder voice so all could clearly hear him, Jack was going to do something that he wasn't sure if he could pull off but he had to try. With his new knowledge and his new apparent status as a Prime, which he still wasn't willing to accept, he spoke to the mass of Cons surrounding him.

"Brothers of Cybertron, I speak to you now, not as an enemy, not as an Autobot, not as a Prime, but as an equal. We are all faced with a grave threat that will soon end our lives; the Thirteen have given us mission. A mission that will require all Cybertronians to work together, affiliation and status mean nothing now. For if we refuse to work together then we will all parish and all life in the universe will be destroyed."

Jack was now looking into the optics of all who stood before him, helping them remember who they were and where they came from, and what they had to do.

"None of us can escape what is going to happen if we don't band together in this time of need. The war has been over for thousands of years. You all have simply failed to realize it, Cybertron now lays dark, cold, and abandoned. But the hatred and rage of a few has led you to bring the war to a new planet, these humans don't deserve to pay for our war. It is time to end the needless bloodshed; we need to band together as the brothers we all are. Each of us has the capacity to change, and together we can all rebuild Cybertron. If we band together there is nothing we can't do, no obstacle we cannot overcome, and no task too great. So I ask you, will you join me, journey to Cybertron and do what must be done?"

A few minutes passed and there was silence; many of the Cons could be seen talking amongst themselves seemingly discussing the preverbal bomb-shell that was just made known to them. But finally after several more long minutes, a single vehicon stepped forward and said, "I will join you." Shortly after another came forward "So will I," and another, "as will I."

It wasn't long until the rest of the crowd decided to join the change in attitude and come over to the silver bot's way of thinking. One after another they stepped forward ready to answer the call.

With a collected voice a horde of voices said, "We are with you, FOR CYBERTRON."

Jack lowered his head and copped a smile thanking whatever gods were listening that his speech had worked.

Then another voice that was different was heard amongst all the rest.

"We are with you as well, until the end." this voice said. Jack knew this voice, a voice that could call to his very soul. With that said his head turned to the location of where it came from. The crowd of bots surrounding him spread to make a path. Finally Hardshell and the first Con to step forward turned and parted ways to reveal the one person he wanted to see more than anyone.

Walking towards Jack was Team Prime, all of them, even the other Soundwave and Slipstream, which had many of the now former Cons extremely confused. Leading the group was Arcee followed by Optimus and everyone else.

Arcee, unable to contain herself ran to Jack, jumping at the last second to be caught in his arms. Catching his femme he held her tight and cleared his vents in a sign of relief.

"Arcee, I love you." It was all Jack could say, only minutes ago he was staring death in the face and now he was alive and had his love in his arms. He closed his optics, holding her tight he pulled her close and gave her a kiss. "I'm sorry if I scared you, but there was no other way," he said knowing that she was angry, scared, and happy all at once.

Arcee looked into his optics and told Jack, "Don't ever do that to me again. I thought I was going to lose you, again for that matter." She yelled pounding her fists against his chest in frustration.

Jack, holding Arcee in his arms, turned to acknowledge the rest of Team Prime that had now caught up. Releasing his grip of his blue femme, Jack turned to greet Optimus, Bulk, Bee, Ratchet, Slipstream, and Soundwave who brought up the rear.

Jack spoke, "Sir it is good to see you again, all of you."

Optimus was looking at Jack in utter confusion, his optics were making out signals that he couldn't believe, as a matter of fact all the members of Team Prime were seeing them, they were the markings of a prime.

XXXX

Finally Optimus spoke, "Primus, Jack that is you is it not?" The Prime was almost unsure of who he was really speaking to. To his knowledge he was the only remaining prime, and had been for many mega-cycles. The Prime's processors were overclocking trying to make sense of the situation.

In time Optimus spoke again, but it wasn't what you would call well said, especially for Optimus. "But, a, prime, how?"

Jack, who had seemingly forgot that he was now a prime, thought about how he came to be a prime.

"I was on the verge of death, and they decided to save me, the Thirteen, I'm not sure which one. But I know they said I displayed unyielding courage and sacrifice. That I would be willing to die to protect those who can't protect themselves." As the last of those words left Jack's mouth, Team Prime gasped in shock, it was simply too much.

"I understand. I believe they have chosen wisely," Optimus said walking up to Jack and offering his hand in a hand-shake. This was unexpected but respected; meeting his equal Jack met Optimus's hand and gave him a proper hand-shake.

Jack, hoping to please Optimus who he still respected as his superior, told him what had happened shortly before they arrived.

"Optimus, our brothers before us have all agreed to join us in our fight," Jack said remembering what he had just accomplished. He might have single-handedly ended the war with words, simple words.

Arcee commented to Jack, "We know, we all heard your little speech Jack."

Jack felt embarrassed that his friends had heard his little public speaking debut and looked at the ground.

"Jack, you did with a few wise words what millions failed to do with much more. Don't be ashamed, be proud my friend, be proud," Optimus said placing his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Thanks Optimus," Jack said feeling like he could overcome anything at this point looked up to the clear sky. "We've got a lot of work to do, and not much time."

Looking back to Optimus who replied, "Yes we do my friend."


	6. Changing Emotions

**Hey everybody, Sorry it has been so long for an update. I feel really bad about not being as productive with it as I would have hoped. But I promise more will follow this chapter, and I will do my best to get everything back on a productive track as possible. **

**Please leave me reviews and ask me questions.**

**If you have any good ideas for the story or what you would like to see happen please let me know and I will see if I can incorporate them. **

**With Much respect.**

**R Vega**

* * *

Select members of Team Prime, including a few extra, made their way through the hanger of the Nemesis on their way to see Megatron, who was in the med bay. Five bots were walking together, some Con, some Autobot, but all brothers. Jack led by Optimus, Arcee, Hardshell, and the Autobot Soundwave entered the elevator to the lower levels of the Nemesis.

As the doors opened the group was greeted by a shocking sight. The halls were lined with soldiers, all standing in attention; unsure what to say Jack simply said, "At ease brothers." Exiting the elevator, Jack turned to Hardshell, "Would you please guide us to the infirmary Hardshell?"

Without any complaint the large Insectacon led the way to the med bay. Making their way through the length of the ship, the whole crew seemed to have no problem with having Autobots as guests. Bot after bot saluted Jack as he passed them, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Finally making the last turn that led to the med bay, a familiar bot was standing at a communication terminal. Seeing this bot in particular did raise some concern with the Autobot party; all except Jack that was. The Autobot Soundwave was the one feeling the most discomfort of all. Realizing this Jack told the rest of the group to go on ahead and he would catch up shortly.

Turning to walk back to Soundwave Jack said, "We will face him together, OK?"

A simple nod was all he got in return, what Jack didn't know was under his visor Soundwave was the most frightened he had ever been in his life. Soundwave was about to meet his proverbial doppelganger.

The two turned to face Megatron's communications officer, who seemed too busy to notice the two coming toward him. Then as the two were only a short distance away from him, Decepticon Soundwave turned to meet Autobot Soundwave in his visor.

There was utter silence between the two, and then Jack said to the Con Soundwave: "Soundwave I want you to meet Soundwave." But one of the bots was unable to contain himself.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT, CALL ME ANYTHING BUT THAT! I REJECT THAT NAME FROM THIS DAY FORTH!" the Autobot Soundwave shouted, the resulting shock made everyone around to hear it fall over in utter shock. Jack could hardly believe it himself. The former silent bot had actually said a full sentence.

The now nameless Autobot in an act that was unprecedented took both of his hands up to his visor. With a clicking and a loud hiss he removed his visor and dropped it to the floor. The visor shattered like a piece of fine china, the sound seemed to come with a sign of gratification to the Autobot.

The nameless bot stood there in front of Soundwave, only to see his reflection of his face in the bot's visor. "From today forward call me Quattro."

Jack, still reeling from what had just happened, placed his hand on Quattro's shoulder and turned him to face himself. His face was pale in comparison to the rest of his body, but looked remarkably normal. Two blue optics and a normal looking mouth, Jack couldn't figure out why he had always hid behind his visor.

"Quattro welcome to Team Prime," Jack said extending his hand to his new friend. Quattro slowly moved to meet Jack's hand and gave him a proper hand shake.

"Good to be part of the team sir." Quattro said before looking back at Soundwave.

Suddenly the com opened and Arcee said, "Jack you had better get in here, we're waiting."

Jack responding, "Yeah I'm just finishing up out here, Quattro and I are on our way." With that Jack closed the com and gestured his companion to join him.

Arcee was in the med bay with her finger on her temple listening to the last part of what Jack said, closing the com channel she said in a low tone, "Who is Quattro?"

XXXX

The doors to the med bay opened and the sight from both angles was a little reeling. Megatron lay strapped to the berth attached to life support equipment while his right arm was being reattached. Meanwhile Team Prime and Hardshell turned to see the new prime and another bot enter the med bay.

Jack proceeded down the ramp into the room, when he reached the bottom of the ramp he looked back and said to Quattro, "Are you going to wait there all day?"

Team Prime, Hardshell, and Breakdown then momentarily shifted their gazes to the bot standing at the top of the ramp.

"Holy Scrap," Arcee said.

"Holy Scrap," Optimus said.

Hardshell looked and said nothing.

Breakdown looked to see what all the commotion was about.

"What is it I'm AHHHH! What the Scrap Soundwave?!" he yelped dropping Megatron's arm from the sheer shock of the bot's face.

"My name is Quattro, Soundwave is out there," he said pointing back down the hall.

Jack proceeding to introduce the new addition to Team Prime spoke: "Everyone, I would like to introduce our newest team member, with your permission Optimus?" waiting for approval from the Prime.

Optimus gave an approving nod to Jack.

"Everyone I give you Quattro."

The newly remade Autobot proceeded to enter the med bay, receiving a gratifying sense of comradely from Optimus when he reached the bottom of the ramp.

"I still don't trust him, no matter what name he has," Arcee stated clinching her fists in frustration.

"Arcee, please do as I told Megatron: let it go. He is not the Soundwave we know, he is our ally." Jack said hoping his femme companion would listen to him.

"Jack you don't know the Soundwave I know; you haven't seen him do what I have," Arcee heatedly said pointing angrily at Quattro.

Jack rubbed his optics in frustration of his companion unwilling to let go of her grudge. Now speaking in a serious tone hoping she would listen to him, "Arcee, please let it go. Do it for me, ok?"

With a deep sigh and clearing her vents Arcee sighed, "Ok but only because you asked."

Meanwhile up in the hangar of the Nemesis other things were going on. Slipstream was doing her best to keep to herself; being surrounded by what she still considered to be Cons made the femme very uncomfortable.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee were conversing amongst themselves near the communication relays. "To be honest, I don't know what to think of this whole situation. Jack a prime somehow, the Cons are now our allies, and worst of all: we are now standing on the Decepticon warship," Bulkhead lamented.

Bee responded, ("Yeah I can definitely say the last few days have really been more than we are used to since the war. Remember the battle at the Decagon; this for some reason reminds me of then. So much going on no one knew what to make of it.")

"To be honest I would rather not think about then, I lost a lot of good friends there," Bulk said closing his optics remembering the battle.

Overhearing the conversation between Bee and Bulk, a vehicon decided to join in on their conversation. Walking over to the two Autobots he spoke without prompting, "I was there at the battle for the Decagon; it was a horrible day for us as well. I lost a lot of friends, including my sparkmate." The bot said placing his hand on his spark chamber in remembrance of the one he lost.

Bulkhead was surprised by this; he had never considered the point of view of a con: the emotions or the loss they might have had. Feeling compassionate for the lonely bot, Bulkhead, in a gesture of good faith for his seemingly new comrade, decided to offer a hand.

Putting his arm on the bot's shoulder the wrecker simply said, "I'm sorry for your loss." The wrecker then turned to walk away from the conversation. Having difficulty accepting the changes that were going on with the Cons becoming allies and all, he was greatly conflicted.

Bee on the other hand, was taking a liking to some of his supposed new allies; mingling with them in conversations about times before the war, arguing over things like whose vehicle mode was faster or had more power. Things that helped them forget their differences.

Things were changing; they all knew it and they all needed it.

XXXX

Back at the base, Ratchet was preparing supplies for the inevitable trip to Cybertron. Making massive quantities of synthetic energon, powering up new weapons he had been designing. One of his new toys he had been developing over the past century, and he was quite proud of it. He simply called it the buster, a very powerful semi hand held rifle for use in the field. He had never been able to properly field test it because of lack of energon; it used massive quantities of energon for a single shot. He estimated a single shot would use the equivalent of a full 10 cycles of energon for a bot like himself. But with a large supply of synthetic energon he had all he needed to test his new toys.

Miko and Raf were also helping prepare things around the base. Being productive for once, they were helping Ratchet get things packed and cleaning up after the medic's messes. They honestly didn't mind cleaning because they knew they were helping none the less.

XXXX

Back on the Nemesis, Breakdown was almost finished reattaching Megatron's right arm he had dropped earlier after his little scare with Quattro and all.

Optimus was standing in the med bay with Hardshell, who seemed to detest the smell of the prime. His occasional barks and scruffs could be heard. Jack was talking with Arcee who was asking him all sorts of questions. Megatron was in stasis on the berth. Not even a full day had passed since the message came from Prima and Amalgamous and yet they were well on their way.

After finishing up his conversation with his femme, Jack approached Optimus.

"Optimus I'm going back to base to rest for a while, the battle earlier has left me pretty drained," Jack said making his way to the door leading out of the med bay. Knowing that it would be at least another 12 hours before Megatron was put back together and awake, he decided to take his leave.

"I will make the most of every minute we have until Megatron wakes up. I think it's best if you are here when he does." Optimus said to his colleague.

"Agreed. Hardshell, would you please see me and Arcee out?" Jack asked hoping to start building a repertoire with the leader of the Insectacons. With a growl Hardshell made his way to the door and led Arcee and Jack to the elevator.

Jack and the blue femme stepped into the elevator, but Hardshell seemed to not want to join them.

"I will wait here for your return," Hardshell said.

"Very well, I will return soon," Jack said and shortly after the door closed.

Jack and Arcee stood in the elevator as it ascended towards the hangar at the top of the Nemesis.

"Ahh god, all I want is a shower and something to eat when I get back," Jack said in a relaxing voice, knowing that he wanted both really badly.

Arcee looked at him with a surprised and somewhat intrigued look on her face. "A shower, at the base?"

"Yeah, oh wait, do we even have a shower in the base come to think of it?" Jack asked.

"I believe there is one in the decommissioned military personnel part of the base that we don't use since none of us take showers," Arcee said.

Jack looked at her with curious optics. "Wait, what do you mean you don't take showers? I've washed you plenty of times." he said hope to get a rise out of her.

"Yes you did, very well in fact, but it's not something we ever really need to do," the femme said.

"Well I will have to get you in the shower sometime and give you a proper cleaning myself," the new prime said flirting with the femme knowing that he was going to get jumped by her if he didn't watch himself.

Arcee was already ten steps ahead of him; her processors were flooded with dirty thoughts about being in a shower with Jack. She could feel her spark and her plates warm just thinking about it. She even had a hard time taking her optics off of him.

"Jack Prime you are a flirt, you know that?" she said to him just before the elevator reached the hangar.

When she said that Jack suddenly stopped thinking about him and Arcee in the shower and thought about something more important instead. As the door opened Jack turned back to Arcee and said one thing: "I don't know if I'm truly worthy to be a prime, but I know I'm worthy to be your spark mate if you will have me."

Arcee's optics lit up like a firecracker, she jumped onto Jack's back holding onto him. She was so happy she couldn't begin to describe it.

Jack called Ratchet for a ground bridge, moments later the portal opened and Jack and Arcee proceeded through it. But just before Jack walked through with his blue femme still on his back, she whispered into his audio receptor.

"I will have you until the end of time, no matter what happens."

Jack smiled and walked through the ground bridge, seconds later it closed.

XXXX

The portal opened back at the base in Nevada; Miko was waiting at the exit of the bridge tunnel for whoever was coming through. With a burst of light a large silver bot appeared at the end of the tunnel.

"Jack, you're back!" Miko yelled jumping in excitement.

Raf was running up behind Miko to see Jack exiting the bridge tunnel.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, Jack kneeled down to let his Arceedown off his back. Arcee was still so full of emotion from what they had discussed before entering the ground bridge.

"Hey Arcee, taking a piggyback ride were ye, guess you felt like taking another ride on Jack hmm?" Miko said trying to make a joke to lighten the mood.

"Miko really, now is not the time," Ratchet said shaking his head.

Raf asked, "How are you feeling Jack? You had us all pretty scared earlier, what happened?"

Jack, thinking about what happened hours earlier, "Um, I kind of died, and was brought back as a prime."

The look on Raf's face was one of fear for his friend. "WOW." was all the 12 year-old could say.

"Listen guys, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I need a shower," Jack said giving a sigh.

"Jack before you do that, I need to give you a look over to make sure you're not still injured from your battle earlier," Ratchet said.

Knowing that it was better to be safe than sorry, Jack made his way over to the berth to get checked.

Sitting on the berth, he was easily 5 feet taller than Ratchet, which did make his scans a little more difficult to perform.

"Well it seems you are indeed a prime now Jack or at least your unique version of a spark is. I can't seem to see any sort of damage to your internal chassis, or your alt modes." Ratchet said with a hint of relief in his voice.

"So can I change back now?" the Prime asked.

"I see no harm in it, just be careful though, you have been through a lot," the doc said looking over his scans.

With that said Jack decided to transform back into his normal human mode. Sitting on the berth, Arcee's hand squeezing his, he took a deep breath and then it happened. He felt something that he wasn't familiar with, but closing his optics he felt himself change. In a short few seconds Jack was back to his normal self, covered in his usual silver and blue armor; he sat on the berth waiting to be given a clean bill of health.

"So doc, can I go now?" Jack asked hoping to get a clean bill of health.

"Yes Jack Prime, I don't see any reasons to keep you here," Ratchet said in an irritated tone.

"Thank you Ratchet," Jack jumped off the berth and got reacquainted with being 6 feet tall again. He noticed that Ratchet seemed to be upset about something but what of he was unsure exactly, the young prime decided to let the doctor be.

Retracting his helmet, Jack gave his neck a good cracking, feeling the joints in his spine and lower back snap with a sign of relief.

"Aw man that felt good, my back has been killing me for hours. Now I know why." he said walking in the direction of the personnel quarters where he hoped to find a shower. "Hey Arcee, if you need me you know where to find me."

Arcee was watching Jack walk away, she couldn't help but feel turned on by him walking away from her. Staring at what she thought was a cute butt that he had, even though he was wearing armor, it still turned her on. Biting her lip, she had an evil smirk appear in the lower corner of her smile.

Jack had finally found the personnel quarters of the base, and thankfully there was a locker room.

"Ok there has got to be a shower around here somewhere, there's a bunch of lockers in here so where are the damn showers?" Jack said looking around helplessly for his saving grace at this point. Walking down a corridor he came to a room that was covered in green and blue tile. "Bingo."

Walking over to a locker, Jack retracted his armor, however in a small compartment he did have something that was not part of his armor. A small red wood box had emerged from his hip section. Jack held the box in his hand wondering what he was going to do. Closing his eyes he put his other hand over the box and protectively put it in a nearby locker where he also found a pair of green overalls. Taking one last look at the red box sitting on the shelf in the locker, Jack felt his heart begin to beat really fast. Looking down he closed the locker and spoke.

"When the time is right."

XXXX


	7. The Gathering Storm

(WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER, IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT JUST SKIP IT)

The shower head turned on with a sputter and hissing, clearly these hadn't been used in some time, but at least they were clean and they worked.

The water felt amazing, words almost couldn't describe how great it felt to be able to relax and take a peaceful shower. Jack had always taken showers as a way to relax back when he was still completely human, and since he had changed he hadn't had one come to think of it. But then again he didn't produce the stench that he normally would when he was human; a definite upgrade if he had to say so.

Reaching for his shampoo he began to wash his hair. Through all the steam in the room a pair of naked blue feet could be seen walking in behind him as he cleaned himself up. When they finally reached the warm water near her target, her feet felt something she couldn't describe. It felt wonderful, letting out a gasp Jack turned with soap in his hair to see Arcee right behind him. The sight was almost more than his brain could bear. Her perfectly sleek body was standing in front of him and she was clearly aroused since the nipples on top of her full breasts were hard and erect.

"Arcee, I was wondering when you would join me. I was worried you might chicken out." he said with a smirk.

With a moan she walked up to Jack and pressed her body firmly against his, letting the water fall on her. Suddenly she gave out a cry of pleasure that took her breath away, "And miss this, are you scarping kidding, ahh oh my god Jack it feels so good, ahh I want more."

With a very large smile he pulled her tighter against himself, placing his hands on her butt and giving her a nice firm squeeze he told her, "See I told you that you would like a shower."

"Aaahhh, but you never said it felt this good," rubbing her thigh firmly against his outer thigh she could feel the tension building, swelling inside her, she wouldn't be able to hold it back for long. And he wouldn't be able to stop her when her dam broke.

She could feel his member hard and erect rubbing against her groin, the heat she felt from inside herself was immense, she wanted him, she needed him. Arcee took her hands and firmly ran her fingers along Jack's back hearing him moan in response to her firm touch.

"So does that feel good my love?" she asked knowing what his answer would be.

"Ahh I don't know, does this feel good?" Jack said moving his hand between Arcee's legs, rubbing her slowly, softly, before plunging one finger and then another deep inside her.

The femme screamed in pleasure; she was unable to contain herself. Her whole body felt like it was on fire in a good, no an amazing way. She felt more alive than ever before in her life. She never wanted it to end.

"Oh my god you humans have it so good you have no idea. How do you ever get anything done when you can do this all day?" the blue femme asked screaming at points as his finger went deeper and deeper.

Jack took full advantage of her state and firmly placed his mouth on one of her full round nipples and began to suck vigorously. The femme screamed again as he moved his mouth from one breast to the other. She couldn't believe it, how could it get any better? The pleasure was already too much for her to comprehend and yet there seemed to be more and more coming her way. It was indescribable, the pleasure, the heat, the passion. This time was better than all the rest; this was the apex of her entire life.

Arcee pulled Jack in for a passionate and vigorous kiss that literally took his breath away. "I want you. I need you inside me now. I want to feel you in me Jack," she said feeling her legs go limp.

Jack pulled his fingers out from inside her feeling her juices come out with his hand. "Jump up on me, take me for a rough ride you naughty girl." Arcee smiled and didn't need to be told twice.

Without a second thought, she jumped up on his throbbing shaft and sank all the way down on him. She could feel him penetrating her deeper than ever before, as if he had gained a couple extra inches since last time. She wrapped her legs around his back to help hold on to him.

Jack wrapped his arms around her and pushed her against the tile wall having the hot water fall over them as he pumped into her with all his might. They were making love more passionately then they ever had before; it was animalistic, it was primitive, and it felt amazing.

In between the thrusts, Arcee attempted to talk but was unable to say a single word that made any sense. Finally she started screaming in Cybertronian, and luckily he was able to understand every word.

Much time passed by and Jack and Arcee had used up all the hot water within the first hour, but neither of them gave a scrap. They weren't going to let up this moment for such an inconvenience. Finally when the two were getting worn out, Jack had another idea. Pointing to a bubbling tub of water in the corner of the adjacent room Jack asked, "Hey Arcee, ever done it in a hot tub?"

The two sparkmates were then in the hot tub for nearly 2 hours before both they and the hot tube were empty.

"So what did you think of your first shower and hot tub experience honey?" Jack asked holding Arcee in his arms in the partly empty hot tub.

"I've never felt anything like that before, and we are definitely making this a regular thing, ok?" Jack nodded and gave her a passion-filled kiss before they both fell asleep in each other's arms in the hot tub.

XXXX

During the time Arcee and Jack were doing primus knows what, Ratchet thought to himself, he was helping the rest of Team Prime who had returned to base. Preparations were well underway for their approaching journey. Ratchet had effectively turned the medical chamber into a brewing vat for synthetic energon. Now armed with a massive supply of the powerful, glowing, green liquid, their weapon situation was looking much better.

"Ratchet, how many units of synthetic energon do we have ready to transport to the Nemesis?" Optimus asked his old friend.

Looking up from his charts, that appeared to be a list of equipment, Ratchet replied, "Currently we have just over 75,000 units and another 11,000 will be ready in the next hour. We should be ready for whatever comes at us."

"Quattro," Ratchet called out to the newly named Autobot. Feeling internally conflicted with the situation regarding his recent unmasking and whole talking thing, it was making the medic think back to all the times he had fought against Soundwave in the past. Many horrific thoughts of this bot's doppelganger were passing through his processor distracting him from his work.

"Yes Ratchet, how can I help?" Quattro questioned in an emotionless tone.

"Can you begin taking the ready shipments of energon to the Nemesis, and please inform the Cons, uhhh, I mean our… Ahhh scrap just tell them not to use this stuff on themselves, or it will have nasty side effects. And if they ask what those are just tell them it causes really bad lubricant leakage, ok? That should stop them from trying it; at least I hope it does." Ratchet thought to himself of the time he used synthetic energon on himself; they didn't need a bunch of pumped up Vehicons and Insectacons running around making a mess.

"Understood Ratchet, I will begin transporting the supplies immediately," the Bot said.

"Thank you Quattro, at least I have someone I can count on to do things I ask," Ratchet said, then having another thought: he just thanked what he still considered a Con for helping him. And he was relying on him as well.

"What the scrap," the medic said to himself, this isn't like me. But if he helps and does exactly what I ask I guess I can't hate him, can I?"

Quattro could be seen with Miko and Raf, who were going over shipment itineraries that Raf had made up in order to make things easier.

"Um Quattro, you can take these 10 shipments. They are ready to be ahh, yeah they're ready to be shipped." Raf said shakily and nervously to the Bot that he still felt uncomfortable around given their past.

Soon after that, the Bot was pulling a set of carts loaded with the glowing substance through the ground bridge into the hangar of the Nemesis.

XXXX

Quattro was working with the bots on board to get the supplies of green energon stored and processed.

"So what exactly is this stuff?" one of the bots asked Quattro.

"It is a synthetic version of energon. It's powerful from what I've been told, but it's unsafe for use in our systems apparently." Quattro said to the questioning bot and any others who were listening. "Apparently it causes all sorts of problems with internal lubricant systems, especially in causing uncontrollable leakage," he said, hoping that would deter any of them from trying it.

"OK, well I don't think I will be trying that anytime soon," one of the nearby bots said to Quattro.

Quattro could be seen working with both Insectacons and Vehicons stacking the new energon in the Nemesis's armory, which is where much of it would be used. Then something caught Quattro's optic, a very large golden hammer was seen hanging on the wall of the ship; it had markings of the Ancients from what he could tell. Quattro chucked it up to being some sort of ornament from their past exploits and left it at that. He soon made his way back to base to prepare more supplies.

"Hey Autobot!" a vehicon shouted to Quattro, "We've got some supplies for you guys as well."

Back at base.

"Man, I still don't trust him; he might be friendly, or at least nicer than the other Soundwave. He might change his name and talk and everything." Miko said blabbing to Raf and Ratchet, who would rather listen to a screaming child than Miko talk. She continued to run her mouth about things that did nothing but annoy and aggravate Ratchet who had a million things on his processor and not enough time to do it all. Finally after what must have been months of aggravation, Ratchet snapped.

"MIKO! SHUT THE SCRAP UP BEFORE YOU GET STEPPED ON! FOR THE LOVE OF PRIMUS DO SOMETHING USEFUL OR GO HOME!" The bot shouted in a tone that was not only much louder than normal but sounded scary to boot.

The shouts could be heard all the way to where the bots had their personal quarters.

XXXX

Optimus, who was standing in his semi demolished room that Jack was kind enough to redecorate, was holding something in his hand. In his hand was a data cube. It was one of the last pieces of the records he was categorizing when he was still Orion Pax. This cube in particular was of importance not only to the Prime, but also to their mission. Within it were detailed maps of Cybertron's inner pathways below Iacon; the one place on the entire planet that they could get to the core from.

"I never thought I would be returning after all this time. I hope that after all this time THEY have left the core…. if they haven't, I fear the worst no matter how many of our brothers are with us."

Realizing the likelihood that they would still need more help, the Prime decided to make a call to the skies like he had done before, hoping that anyone listening would come to his aid.

Optimus, rising to his feet, began walking out of his quarters passing the wrecked doors and seeing the hole his body made in the adjacent wall. Walking out to the main chamber, the Prime passed Ratchet who was tirelessly working on putting together weapons Optimus hadn't seen since the fall of Cybertron. Laid out on several large metal tables were all sorts of weapons, many of which were hard to come by before the war. On the table were several sets of Duel X20 triple barrel Scrapmakers, Photon Burst Rifles, Plasma Grenade launchers, Scatter Blasters, and two Nucleon Shock Cannons that the Prime hadn't seen before.

Making his way over to the table and taking stock of their weapon situation, Optimus wondered where these new assets came from. "Ratchet, where did these armaments come from? I wasn't aware that we had such things at our disposal." Optimus said.

Ratchet looked away from what appeared to be a set of weapons' schematics, looked at the tables of new weapons and then at Optimus.

"They were recently brought back by Quattro when he delivered a shipment of synthetic energon. It seems that the Decepticons have been hoarding these weapons for use at some point; I guess they decided to share with us." Ratchet said walking over to one of the X12 Scrapmakers.

"I haven't held one of these monsters since the war," Ratchet declared picking up one of them laying on the table and spinning the barrels to life. A torrent spinning sound could be heard from the barrels. "It definitely feels good to hold one of these babies again. I remember using one of these things before and they can definitely tear the scrap out of whatever you point it at." the med bot said laying the weapon back on the table and then returning to his workstation where he was working on his new Buster Rifle invention. Just before returning to work he looked up and said to Optimus, "We should have more than enough firepower to get past whatever is waiting for us on Cybertron."

Optimus looked away, thinking about what actually waited for them still had him very concerned, even though they had a small army and some of the most destructive weapons ever made on Cybertron at their disposal. He still felt it wouldn't be enough.

Walking towards the freight elevator that led to the roof of the base, Optimus turned to Ratchet and said, "I'm going to go knock on the heavens, I will be back shortly."

The elevator doors closed and ascended to the roof of the base.

XXXX

Standing out in cool Nevada night air the Prime took a conservative pose, placed his arms at his hips and looked to the starry night sky. Clearing his vents thoroughly he began to speak, sending a signal into deep space.

"We have fought for generations, we have lost allies and friends, and we have lost our home. But now, for the first time since the beginning of the war, all Cybertronians are working together. Alliance, faction, affiliation, mean nothing now. We have all joined together in order to prevent the calamity that is upon us. My name is Optimus Prime, I and Megatron order that any Cybertronian seeking refuge among the stars join us in the battle for our home, the battle for Cybertron. For if we should fail, we will all perish."

The Prime looked to the sky analyzing all the distant stars he could, just hoping for some sort of response, it didn't matter what it was. He needed something, some sort of sign that they were going to make it. As he went to turn back to the freight elevator, a shooting star could be seen falling in the night sky behind Optimus. Noticing something, the Prime turned around and saw a distant off star giving a faint pulse, the Prime hoped that someone had heard him.

XXXX

Passing stars and far off planets in a remote part of the Milky Way, the signal reached the audios of some who were still listening. Somewhere far away from earth on a distant dark planet, a planet that was full of sharp, rocky mountains and deep chasms there was something, something that was waiting there, waiting in a deep slumber. In a cave, miles below the planet's surface something that had lain dormant was awaking. A deep rumble could be heard from within the cave, the thunderous sound of large feet stomping thorough the darkness could be heard from the cave's entrance. Finally several sets of optics could be seen emerging from the darkness of the cave making their way to its exit.

A set of brightly glowing red optics were seen through the heavy darkness; this being was of considerable size and looking like something out of a horror story. The ground shook as this being walked ever so slowly out of the cave; it could be seen carrying something in its right hand. Finally exiting the cave and accompanied by several others, a Cybertronian could be seen carrying a very large toothed orange sword in his hand. Silently looking to the sky, they looked up to a nearby gas giant that glowed a bright blue and lit the ground below their feet. There was silence for several seconds until finally one of the somewhat smaller bots broke the silence.

"Well I guess this is it; we had better get going or we are going to miss the party."

XXXX

Bulkhead and Bee were training with Slipstream in the S.A.F.E. Since she had been in the rift for so long she had unfortunately become a stranger to combat, which was something she would never admit to anyone, including herself. Punches and shots could be heard through the doors to the S.A.F.E. and the unique roar of Slipsteam's jet engines could be heard through the observation glass. They were all training as hard as they could; they knew they would need to if they were to all make it back, alive.

XXXX

Back on the Nemesis Megatron was finally put back together, but was still in stasis until his systems and vitals stabilized so he could safely be woken up. Breakdown, who had finally finished mending the last of his master's bent and torn armor, was busy looking over vitals and other charts ensuring his patient's full recovery.

XXXX

Jack and Arcee were finally out of the hot tub and drying off from their little shower party they had earlier.

"So Arcee, when this is all over, do you want to do this again?" Jack asked knowing that she would undoubtedly say yes.

The blue femme, who was still naked, was watching her spark mate dry himself said, "Hell yes, as I believe you humans say. I want to do this every day with you, EVERY SINGLE DAY." She said this with almost an evil smirk on her face; so many dirty thoughts went through the femme's mind she almost tackled him again right then and there.

Finishing putting on a spare change of green overalls Jack found in one of the lockers, he gestured to Arcee to follow him. Exiting the personnel quarters, the two proceeded down the long corridor next to each other. Jack was in his taller human form and Arcee was in her human armor mode. The two were happy; they were both feeling much better and a lot less stressed given the situation, which is something they both really needed right now.

Continuing down the hallway past the personnel quarters they first passed Optimus's quarters.

"Geezz, I really messed up Optimus's room and the wall as well. I guess I will have to make good and fix that here when we get back." Jack said trying to make light of the situation in order to lighten the mood.

"I would think so Jack, it couldn't hurt to at least help put the doors back on his quarters at least," Arcee said in response to Jack.

"Yeah you're right, but I think I should do what I can to make it the way it was," he replied passing the scene of the recent incident.

The two were soon at Arcee's quarters and were almost to the main atrium where they could both hear the sounds of people working. Just as they made it to her quarters Arcee looked at Jack.

"Jack, can I talk to you in private for a moment? There is something important I need to talk to you about."

"Sure hun, what is it?"

"I would feel more comfortable if we talked inside," she stated propping one door to her quarters open with her arm.

When the door finally shut and they were alone, Arcee slowly walked over to her berth and sat down on the edge dangling her legs. Jack walked up and sat down next to her, eager to hear what she wanted to talk about with him. He worried it was about something bad or that he had done something wrong.

"Arcee is everything ok, did I do something wrong?"

"No, not at all. You haven't done anything wrong Jack; it's me that I think has done something wrong actually."

"Arcee I can tell you that you haven't done anything wrong, so why would you feel that you have done something wrong?"

"I guess it's not that I did something wrong Jack, it's just that I feel the need to talk to you about, well, us." she said seeming to struggle to find the right words.

Unsure what to say, he decided to simply hold the femme's hand and listen to her.

"Jack, I know that there has been a lot going on recently. A lot has happened for both of us, you have become one of us and well, I've kind of become one of you. So we are both kind of in the middle of the whole thing. Neither of us is really human or Cybertronian but more like a hybrid of the two. And I know you becoming a prime recently has made you more Cybertronian, BUT…"

The femme paused, her blue optics could be seen darting around trying to find the right words. Finally clearing her vents she continued.

"But I don't want you to forget who you were and who you still are. You might be able to live as long as one of us now and you look like one of us, even then." she spoke turning and looking deep into Jack's eyes. "I, I don't want you to abandon your humanity, that part of you that made you YOU. The kind, funny, intelligent, loving, compassionate, and understanding parts of you that made you human." Arcee said looking away as her optics filled with tears.

"I don't want you to lose that part of you that made me fall in love with you. I want you to remember who you are and where you are from, so no matter where we go, no matter what happens please don't become something you're not. Don't become like Optimus and push people away from you. I'm so scared now that because you're a prime, you will stop wanting me or be with me."

Jack was utterly speechless, he was so hurt for Arcee that she felt that way. He had no idea she was feeling this way and he just wanted to make her feel better; he wanted to let her know how much he loved her. Jumping up and wrapping both arms around Arcee, Jack reassured her that he would never leave her nor would he forget his heritage.

"Arcee, I will never forget who I am or where I am from. You're right, a lot has happened recently. But it's nothing that we can't get used to together. I promise on my life that I will never leave you, I will never push you away, I will stay with you until I am no more and my body turns to dust. But even then I will still be with you, as I pray that you will be with me. No force in the universe can keep me from you or from loving you, and nothing will make me forget who I am. Again you're right, I'm not necessarily human any more; in fact I'm more Cybertronian now than human. But I will never let go of my humanity, because that is what makes me who I am. That is what makes me Jack Darby, and I will never change my name either, and I will never forget, and I will never let go."

The femme felt much of her worries being washed away, she couldn't describe how she felt. Words failed to describe the degree of relief she was just granted by her partner, no her sparkmate. But even then she wondered if he really understood what it meant to be that.

"Jack, remember what you said back on the Nemesis before we left."

After a short pause he responded, "Yeah, you mean what I said as I left the elevator?"

"Yes, you said that you didn't know if you were worthy to be a prime, but you were worthy to be my sparkmate…I've never had anyone who wanted to be my sparkmate Jack. I've never had anyone who truly wanted to be that to me." Arcee spoke looking at the ground in what seemed to be shame.

"Arcee, I know we never really talked about this, but it's good that we are now. I have to ask, all the times you were partnered with Tailgate and Cliffjumper, you never got close with them?"

The femme, fiddling with her hands as she spoke; clearly she was nervous about this part of the conversation given its painful memories. "No, I mean, well, it was purely professional, we were partners and we had a war to fight. I don't think either of us really wanted to be caught vulnerable."

"Cee, listen, I'm not really sure what to say right now, but you seem to have a question you want to ask me. So please just ask me, ask me what's bothering you so much?"

Shifting her gaze from the floor to her love's face, she looked deep into his lightly blue glowing eyes.

"Do you really want to be my sparkmate Jack? What I mean is do you know what it means to be someone's sparkmate. Do you understand the connection it implies to that other person?"

Being quick to respond Jack wasn't going to leave her hanging, he wanted to remove any of her doubts right here and right now. He didn't want the femme he loved so much to ever worry like this again. Taking both her hands in his, he rubbed the outside gauntlet of her hands with his thumbs, slowly caressing the smooth blue metal that he was so fond of. Looking deep in her optics, he was going to spill his heart to her and possibly do something that he hadn't planned.

"Ar. Ceeee…. Ummm." Taking a large swallow and digging deep to find some much needed strength, Jack continued. "Listen, I know a lot has happened. But you and I have been working together for what now, almost a year? In that time we have overcome so much, we have both changed so much, and we have both grown stronger together. I might be a prime, but I am still yours. That has never changed and it never will. I meant what I said; I want to become your sparkmate. I'm only going to get to live life once and I don't want to have any regrets. We will be going to Cybertron soon, and even if we succeed, who's to say that we will all make it." Looking away Jack took a deep breath and continued. "Who's to say that I make it back?" he said as if he knew something she didn't.

"Jack please don't talk like that, please don't." Tears can be seen gathering in her optics.

"Please let me finish. The battle ahead of us is going to be one neither one of us has ever seen before I fear, there will be losses on both sides. But I don't want to go into battle having any regrets."

Jack hadn't planned on doing this quite yet, but he remembered he was going to do it when the time felt right, and right now it did. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a cherry red wooden box. Arcee's optics shifted to what had just emerged from his pocket. The femme had no idea what could possibly be in the box, but she knew it must have been important for him to have it with him. Jack's hand and whole body began to tremble and go numb. He felt more nervous now then at any point in his life. The battle with Megatron where he practically died seemed less stressful.

"What's in the box Jack?" she asked wondering since she literally had no idea what it was.

"Arcee, I have spent my entire life hoping and praying that I would eventually find that one person who I could spend the rest of my life with. And when I found her, I never planned on letting her go. I would want to share all of my joys and happiness with that person. From the day I first saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful motorcycle I had ever seen. And when I finally got to know the real you, I was even more captivated by you." Squeezing her hand firmly, Jack was going to deliver his homerun to her. "Since then, my life has been full of so much happiness and joy I can't possibly describe it. You have made my life seemingly worth living, you have given me a reason to be alive and someone to protect. I don't know what the future holds in store for us, but I know right here, right now, I love you more than anything else in the world. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Opening the box, Jack pulled out a glowing yellow metal ring. It was made out of some sort of special metal, nothing from Earth at least. It was simple and elegant, infused with energon so it glowed a brilliant golden color. Holding it in his hand he asked Arcee, "Arcee, we have a custom here on Earth. When two people love each other and want to spend their lives together they…um," Jack took another big gulp, "They get married and become a true pair. You want me to be your sparkmate and I want you to become my wife, if you will take me?"

Arcee was completely shocked; she had no idea what to say. Taking a quick few seconds, she searched the net and found out all she needed to give Jack a proper response.

"Are you asking me to marry you Jackson Darby?"

"Yes, yes I am Arcee, will you marry me?" Jack asked feeling like he was about to faint; his head was so hot he almost couldn't stand it.

There was almost no delay when she gave him her response. In a soft and quiet voice, "Yes." Then in a much louder voice, "YES, I will marry you Jack, yes I will."

Jack took the glowing ring and slid it onto her armored metal finger. It looked beautiful on her, and it was a perfect fit. Looking at the glowing ring that seemed to light up her dark quarters, the femme was overcome with joy. Grabbing each other, they came together for a kiss that seemed to last an eternity. The newly engaged couple held each one another in their embrace until a knock came at their door; it was Slipstream.

"Hey you two in there, Optimus wants everyone at the ground bridge. We've got incoming."

Thinking quickly Arcee shouted, "We will be right there!" Turning to look at her new Cybertronian fiancé, "Well I guess we had better go see what is going on. Ready to go my love?"

"Yeah let's go."

Walking towards the door, Jack had something he needed to ask before they left the privacy of their room.

"Hey Arcee, can you do me a small favor?"

"Sure what is it?"

"Can we keep this between us for now? I don't want everyone else to know right now, ok?"

With a smile she agreed, "Sure thing."


End file.
